


Band Practise - A Welcome To Hell Fanfiction

by RandomKillerQueen



Series: Welcome to the Band [1]
Category: Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Alterbridge, Alternate Universe - Bands, Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, Child Neglect, F/M, Fighting, Foo Fighters - Freeform, Foxboro Hot Tubs - Freeform, Green Day - Freeform, Homelessness, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, It's a lengthy read, M/M, Nirvana - Freeform, W2H Big Bang 2018, Welcome To Hell Big Bang 2018, are among the bands these lot play, fall out boy - Freeform, lotsa gay rocker shit tbh, lotsa music, make sure to read with the playlist on tbh, my chemical romance - Freeform, prepare yourself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-19 16:14:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 28,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15513633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RandomKillerQueen/pseuds/RandomKillerQueen
Summary: Sock and Jon want to start a band - they get some help along the way with new bandmates, who will they be? will everyone get along? Will they make it to open mic night at their favourite rock club - Blue Bay Club? Who will fall for who? Let's find out!-Written for the Welcome To Hell Big Bang 2018-





	1. Tryouts

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Notes: *High School AU/Band AU! All characters are aged 17+, Sock and Jojo are 17 about to turn 18, Jon, lil, zack are 18, Prov and Mephi is 19+. Rated 16+ for swearing and adult themes and sexual scenes*  
> Here is the playlist I have made to go along with this fic, the songs are slightly out of chronological order of which they're played but don't worry - I've made sure to link each song individually before each 'performance'! It includes notes with each song on the playlist, giving insite to the scene playing out when these songs play, and more specifically these are all the songs performed in the fanfiction that have significance to character development and/or story progression: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&disable_polymer=true  
> UPDATE: I have ALSO made a much bigger spotify playlist with filler songs, with the performed songs in there too, mixed around. :') https://open.spotify.com/user/zozoneko/playlist/1R8Esx1YhsHOvuBeMvyYbM?si=2lOoHHT_QJmjt-zuc_rnbw
> 
> IMPORTANT!! Here is some fanart that was drawn for this fic! It’s super awesome and all my love goes to my fren Beth :3 https://agender-sock-sowachowski.tumblr.com/post/176530645893/these-are-art-pieces-to-accompany-a-fic-zozo-wrote

  ****“Hey dude, watch out!” Sock yells over the music, pushing past and feeling his way through the crowd. Exhilarated, adrenaline pumping, he gives one final push and he’s there, at the very front, seeing the band in all their glory. Saving Gabrielle. The frontman, Jacob, stands tall, gripping the microphone and singing with all his might. The bassist, Mike, jumps around, Greg the guitarist even crazier in his jumps. The drummer, Max, hits the drums with strength yet precision. The Blue Bay club offering a home to amateur bands alike, gigs were always on as soon as it opened at 5pm and ended… well, sometimes it didn’t until the early morning, the party continuing well beyond an already loose schedule. And despite the lack of organisation, despite the messiness and craziness, the music was good, the crowd was fun, and they rarely got in trouble. Or more rather, rarely got caught.  
The music blended and mashed together into a fun mess, the bass guitar and the drums physically felt through Sock’s body. Everyone pushing against one another, breaking out into mosh pits here and there, Sock grinned and thrashed along, letting go to the violence of the song, the band, the audience, rough and gritty just like the songs playing. He adored it, getting lifted to a fun and dreary light-headedness, the cheap beer he drank beforehand still lingered in his mouth. Should he have drunk that much? That was a thought that left as soon as it entered his mind, as though that matters when all he should have is the music, the crowd and the night ahead of him.  
  
**************  
  
“Hello, welcome to Hell’s Cafeteria, how may I help you?” Sock says, pretending to be chipper. On the inside, all he wanted to do was eat some food and sleep for about 2 days. He took their order and walked behind the bar, closing the door behind him and sighing.

“What’s got you down, Sock? You look exhausted! You only just started this job a few days ago…” Lil looks to him, grinning. “Lemme take a wild, rockin’ guess.” She mutters and giggles as he glares at her.

“You’re there the whole night, Lil, how do you stay… okay? The day after?”

  
“I don’t drink. Or at least I don’t during our day shifts. Next week, when our afternoon shifts roll in instead, you’ll see me.” She says simply and plates the food. “Get to cooking, I’ll take orders for a while. You better get rested and presentable for next week by the way, you finally get to meet the manager.”

  
He stares as she leaves and looks at the food and stove before him. “The manager…?” He gulps, wondering what will come of the next afternoon shift.  
  
**************  
  
The bell rings and chairs squeak and scrape along the floor, footsteps pattering out and becoming less numbered and fainter by the second, people eager to get home. Sock keeps his head down. The morning nothing but headaches and nausea, the afternoon boring and dull. Today was an off day. And it wasn’t even the alcohol anymore that was causing how he was feeling. The hubbub of school life quietening down, he realised he didn’t want to go home. _‘Maybe I should go to the music room?’_ , he thought, turning his head and looking out out the window to see other half of the building off at an angle, the gate out of the school straight ahead, the trees surrounding swaying in the gentle autumn wind. He sits up when he hears footsteps approach and a muttering of a low voice.

“Sock.”

  
He looks to see Jonathan Combs, dressed in a huge hoodie and simple jeans.

“Hey.” Sock mutters.  
“You okay?” Jon asks, his head tilting in concern.  
“Let’s uh… let’s not go into it.”  
A short silence passes by and Sock stands up. “Let’s do something.”  
“Band room?” Jon mentions, smiling a little.  
“Band room.” Sock says in confirmation, smiling back smally.  
They begin to walk, sneaking past tables and chairs and turning into the hallway, the majority of the crowd already away home.  
They pass a locker where a girl stands, in pristine uniform, her hair done up into a bun with a pretty clip-on bow at the side. She stuffs about 5 books into her locker and begins to organise them, trying to find order in the chaos, before hearing footsteps and turning to face the two of them. “Ah! Jon and Sock! How you guys doing?”  
“Oh, hi Prov! We’re good, yup…. you ok there? You look like you’ve got a lot of books there.”  
“Oh, right that. Well, I took on a few extra classes and groups. I know I shouldn’t of, but they would’ve closed them down if they didn’t find another member! It’s fine though, it all miraculously managed to fit into my schedule. At least it’ll save me from being bored!”  
“Uh huh!” Sock says and stares down her locker, thinking it should be on the bottom row to spare it caving in and crushing the locker below.  
“Where you guys headed?”  
“To the band roo-“  
“Home, actually. Home.” Jon interjects.  
“Ah okay. Because… if you headed to the band room, per say to practise music like the stuff you hear at that Blue Bay place, all I’d say is that the doors are locked. Or should be seeing as the school is locking up early tonight. Or should be locking up early tonight.”  
“Yup.” Jon says.  
“I know.” Sock beams at her.  
“Uh huh. Well, have fun going home boys, I’ve got a prefect meeting.” Prov closes her locker and heads off in the opposite direction, up the stairs towards the staff meeting room.  
“Boy… I never know whether she knows what we’re up to and decides to let it slide, or if she knows what we’re up to and is planning to one day use this information against us seeing as her powers as the headmaster’s second-in-command could expel us within the day,” Sock says.  
“W-Why isn’t there an option of her _not_ knowing what we’re up to?” Jon asks.  
“Isn’t that obvious? She’s only been here for 2 years, she’s already favoured above people who have been here for over 5! I guess she is very hard-working.”  
“Maybe we should strive to be on the same level as her…”  
The look to each other, a moment passes, and they continue to walk to the band room instead, the moment of motivation over.  
“There’s an open mic session at Blue Bay in 2 weeks’ time.”  
“Dude, to think we’d make that. We only just started jamming together like, what, a few months ago? We don’t have a singer or guitarist, we just have… drums and bass.”  
“That’s all DJ’s need, don’t see why we need anything more.”  
“Maybe that’s the case for some artists, they can make up for the lack of band members but us? We sound… “  
“Like we’re missing something.”  
“…Yup.”  
“Well good news!” They turn a corner into the music corridor and Jon speeds up, walking quickly to the door of the band room and opening it, waiting for Sock to go first. Sock looks at him, confused, then turns to investigate the room. His face drops. “Oh boy.”  
“HIM??” Jojo raises her voice, a guitar strapped around her, the revelation of her new bandmate stopping her mid-adjustment. “HE’S your drummer?”  
Sock goes pale and looks to Jon, his hidden goofy grin directed at Sock still on his face, clicking the idea he had conjured up. “You enlisted _Joane_ to our group?”  
“It’s JoANe- you know what, just call me Jojo, Maxwell.”  
Sock looks over to her with slight confusion. Did she not even know his name? Was she calling him that on purpose? He was sure he’d specified enough times in social groups that that’s not a preferred name. “..It’s Sock.”  
“What?”  
“Uh, just call me Sock, please.”  
Jojo looks over to him, taking a moment to analyse the interaction, and nods her head once before turning away. Sock still couldn’t place her intentions, and looks back at Jon with slight concern on his face.  
Jon, obviously ignoring what just happened, and Sock’s face,  walks into the room, guiding Sock towards the drum kit. “Let’s play something.”  
“W-what are we playing? I… I haven’t said I’ll actually join yet or anything!!”  
“Of course you haven’t.” Sock says. “But you’re probably gonna say no now that you know I’m the drummer, right?”  
Jon looks at Sock. “Y-You guys have history? I mean, we all met first year of high school I thought?”  
“Sock and I have known each other since Kindergarten, actually.” She pauses. “You were really weird to me when we were kids, Sock.”  
“And you’ve avoided me ever since, really. I know we’re kinda in the same group of people that hang around now and again, with Jon… but I know you’d rather talk to anyone else in that group asides from me. I understand why, though, so I haven’t minded.” Sock shifted uncomfortably.  
“No, no… I’ve just had a lot of other stuff going on.”  
“Sure.”  
“I- “  
“Okay c’mon guys-“ Jon practically shoves Sock onto the drum kit and reaches for his own guitar. “I have homework I need to do after this and I really want to get it done sooner so that I can go to Blue Bay later.” Sock sighs a little as he looks at Jon, clear to him that Jon desires to help his and Jojo’s friendship with the power of song, pushing quietly for them to start playing already. Whether or not it will help soften some edges in their friendship, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t have anything else to lose.  
“You guys go to Blue Bay too?” Jojo asks as she tunes her guitar. Secretly, sock has seen Jojo around, but felt unsure about approaching her and her group. She looked happy when rocking out down there.  
“Yeah! It’s great.”  
“Didn’t realise anyone else from our school went to it. It’s kinda hard to find, for a reason of course. They’re more into Rubix anyway, that Dance Club by the main street. Or studying.”  
“Hey, who said someone can’t study AND go to Blue Bay?” Jon smiles when Jojo grins at him. “Jojo, you said before - you know Green Day?”  
“Yeah, I do. I’m in the mood for ‘Coming Clean’. Oldie but a goodie.” Jojo smiles.  
Sock’s eyebrows twitch upwards in slight surprise. A lesser known song but totally underrated. Maybe there’s more to Jojo than Sock originally thought.  
“Sure, yeah, I know that song, let’s play it, see how we sound?” Jon suggests  
Sock takes a breath and smiles. “Well... here goes nothing!” Sock sees they’re ready and hits his drumsticks together to count into the bar.  
**_(Author’s note:_**[ ** _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnwL6SKKI-s &index=1&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnwL6SKKI-s&index=1&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8) ** _,_**[ ** _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvEqMBEF1rc &list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=3&t=0s_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvEqMBEF1rc&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=3&t=0s) ** _,_**[ ** _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTpw5XMnJig &index=3&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTpw5XMnJig&index=3&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8) ** _,_**[ ** _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBJwhZCS9z4 &list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=4_**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBJwhZCS9z4&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=4) ** _are among songs they played during this jam session! :P )_** ** _  
_**  
  
“Well then.” Jon says, slightly working to regain his breath. “You rock out hard!”  
“Of course. I got a reputation to uphold.” Jojo smirks, taking the guitar off and putting it down, going over to her hand-decorated bag to grab her water.  
“How many songs did we play?” Sock asks, grinning.  
“Like… 10? In a row. Dude, that’s like a set at Blue Bay!”  
“We should totally do the open mic session on the 25th!!” Jojo says excitedly, looking to Sock and Jon.  
“Hey, what’s this ‘we’? Does that mean… you’re in?” Sock asks, not knowing what her answer will be, watching intently.  
Her smile falters into a little smirk, looking down at her water bottle in thought. “Hm… Yeah. Yeah, I’m in.”  
“Sweet!” Sock jumps up and hits his cymbals, whooping excitedly, Jon putting down his bass and patting Jojo on the shoulder, his grin back. “I’m so glad you said yes, because we sound SICK together.”  
“Yeah, we do! Wasn’t sure what I expected we’d sound like but I’m glad it’s good!” She laughs. “Hey, so… we need a singer.” Jon says and looks to Jojo. “you’re guitarist so…Hm???” He suggests.  
She laughs a little and shakes her head. “no, I can’t do main vocals, I’m too busy thrashing around. I thought you were vocalist?” She replies. Jon looks away, embarrassed. “My voice is bad. I really really really would prefer not to sing either.”  
“What about Sock?” Jojo asks, as though it’s a simple solution.  
“Huh?” Sock’s smile suddenly disappears.  
“Sock used to sing all the time when he was a kid, and he kept a tune then, what about now, huh?” Jojo says, looking over to him. Sock frowns a little at her.  
“Sock can sing? He doesn’t sing around me…”  
“How long have you guys even been friends for?”  
“Uh… well… a few years, we’ve seen each other around, mind you, _before_ that... B-but we’ve really hit it off!... We just haven’t explored everything… it seems.” Jon looks over to Sock and he looks away. “We’ll look for someone who can sing and play drums okay, and decide what they’re better at, okay? Maybe… maybe then… I might sing.”  
“Then it’s decided!” Jon exclaims, packing up his things. “I’ve gotta get home now though. Sock?”  
“O-oh, okay.” Looking at the time, he realised he had a job to get to soon. Working on a Friday night seemed like a daunting task, but given Jon has cut practise slightly short today, Sock can take the time to get some rest before getting ready.  
“When’s next band practise then?” Jojo asks as Jon lifts his bag to his back.  
“Oh, uhm, I’ll get back to you on that. The schedule can be flexible, you see. We have to find a music room that’s unlocked usually beforehand and sneak in and-“  
“Wait, the janitor didn’t let us in here for after-hours practise?”  
“Uhm… well… it’s a long story. See, me and Tom have a very special friendship where- “  
“you paid him.”  
Jon pauses and looks over at Jojo, raising his eyebrows and shifting around, looking incredulous. “Whaaaaat?! Nooooo….” Jon grabs his bag and Sock’s hand, dragging Sock out of the room “I have your number I’ll call you byeeeeee!” Jon drags Sock out of the room and closes the door, sighing. After a moment of silence, he chippers up, starting to walk. “Well that went well!”  
“Aren’t you gonna worry she’s gonna tell the headmaster about you bribing the janitor to let you do anything you want in this school? Like, I dunno, accidentally break a window like you did last month and caused this whole assembly where the headmaster offered rewards to people who found other students who picked classroom door locks?”  
“Well, now why would she do that? Anyway, it’s not like I pick the locks.”  
“ _Here_ , anyway- “  
“-shut up. It’s not like I pick the locks so I wouldn’t be the guy he’s looking for. There’s some other person in this establishment that picks the locks to the school and lives in here, and everyone knows that. The rumours circulate everywhere. My bet’s on a previously excluded student.”  
Jon opens the door for Sock, just as Tom passes by him, Jon handing him some cash, winking at him. Tom stares for a second with his same dull expression, and a small smile tugs at the side of his face, barely any indication of a shift in emotion, and walks away. They step out into the car park, walking along past the cars. They eye the other cars and approach their mode of transportation. They unlock their bikes from the rack and jump on, pedalling along and chatting. Back in earlier years their chats were cut short by Jon and Sock living in opposite directions at their parents’ house, but that had now been corrected as in recent years Jon got himself a tiny flat in a dirty neighbourhood about 20 minutes’ away and offered Sock to move in with him. It’s not ideal but Jon wanted his own life, and he was willing to grab it by any means necessary. Either way, Jon and Sock have found it somewhat therapeutic to have a bike ride and chat about things. It calms from the hubbub of school life. Working on a mental to do list for what they need to do when they get home, the glide downhill on the roads between neighbourhoods, thankful that most of the journey is indeed downhill, thankful that they aren’t making their exhausting morning journey there by bike, most of the time opting to walk (or sometimes run if they’re running late) the 7-ish minutes it takes to grab the school bus there instead, sometimes dragging their bikes along and onto the bus for the journey home.  
“Hey Jon?” Sock asks as he turns to face him, letting go of the handlebars and leaning back, letting the bike do it’s work on a soft downhill decline.  
“Yes, Sock?” Jon leans forward a little onto his handlebars, feeling tired out.  
“Do you think we’ll have a band ready for Blue Bay?”  
“Ya know, I should really be saying I don’t actually know, but something is telling me we will!”  
Sock looks ahead at the path in front of him, the cars shining against the low sun in the orange sky and smiles to himself, looking over at Jon, his hair blowing in the wind.  He feels something churn in his stomach, concluding that he’s just excited for the path ahead. “yeah. Me too.”  
  
**************  
  
Slipping on his uniform, Sock yawns loudly. _I WAS going to get rest_ , Sock thought, _but I ended up just sitting playing video games instead, I almost missed my bus here_. He sighs and rubs his eyes. _Just two hours, two hours and everything will be o-_ __  
“Sock! The manager’s here, hurry up and get to the grill. I’ll handle being the waiter tonight, I’ve got the better carisma anyway.” She takes one look at him and sighs. “Dude, sort yourself out.” She walks out, ignoring the fact that Sock stood with his trousers halfway up his legs. He takes a moment to get over the tiny fleeting feeling of violation, then pulled his trousers up, buttoning them and grabbing his hat, moving to the kitchen and quickly prepping the ingredients. The restaurant opened in 5 minutes. Prep was supposed to begin 15 minutes before evening service, but the usual dead time caused by most customers coming during day shifts instead, a quiet time between 7pm and 7:30pm, was almost guaranteed and with that time they either prepped or sat around doing nothing if they already had. It just worked out better to start 5 minutes early instead. A hidden rule they really shouldn’t have followed today. He heard a man’s voice echoing from the counter, Lil’s voice a smile as it passed through to Sock. She was sweet-talking her way to promotion already. “And who’s through here?” The man asked, his voice edging closer, and Sock quickly dashes his way through about 5 minutes of prep in mere seconds before calming as soon as the man appeared, making it look effortless, and done 15 minutes previously.  
“Ah! Hello!” Sock looks up to see a tall man standing before him. With red unruly hair attempted to be tied up into a little bun at the back of his head, a well-kept beard, and almost amber-looking eyes staring back at him. He wore jeans with a suit shirt and overcoat, with a brown tie matching the overcoat hanging from his thin neck. His ears had multiple piercings and evidence of use of spacers, however, nothing was there as he stood staring sock down with a small smile. He had mastered a look of unprofessional professionalism, and somehow, it worked. _This guy looks just a few years older than me!_ Sock thought, _how on earth did he manage to get a job like manager? I guess this is a small and dying, barely busy café…_  
The man spoke, and broke Sock from his thoughts.  
“Hey there, uh-“ The man looks to Sock’s nametag. “-Sock! I’m Mephi, yes sounds like the drug with an ’I’ at the end, except spelt with a ‘ph’ instead of a ‘th’, if that makes sense! How do you do!” Mephi reaches out his hand, and Sock puts his knife down and shakes his hand. “N-nice to meet you.”  
“I know you guys are probably trying to make a nice impression, but you don’t need to worry about that. We’re all here to keep our jobs, right? So, let’s do just that. So, don’t worry about your boss, which is me by the way, but worry more about the _boss’ boss_ , ya know that guy… Martin? I think his name is? Did he interview you guys too? I’m not sure, but yeah, he barely visits here anyway, so let’s just _not get reported by customers_ and we will be just _fine._ How does that sound?”  
Mephi looks at Sock and Sock blinks for a second. Something seemed _rough_ about Mephi, something that just brushed him the wrong way. He felt like he was seeing someone trying to be serious instead of actually being serious, like it was some extended lead-up into some kind of joke. He wasn’t sure where to place Mephi. Something seemed… dark…. About him. Rebellious, even bully-like. God, he hoped I wasn’t about to start getting bullied by his boss now.  
“well!” Lil interjected Sock’s thoughts. “We should probably get this show on the road! Mephi, you can look around the place today, but I do hope you help me taking orders or serving things! I’d really appreciate the help. I’m not sure if that’s in your job title, or….”  
“Yes, actually. I’m not some kinda asshole that just leaves my co-workers to do my work for me, ya know. I had enough of that myself.”  
“Good!” Lil says, the uncomfort sprinkled in her voice at the sudden brashness of her manager’s words but smiled at him all the same. “I think we’ve got a pretty laid-back manager, eh, Sock?”  
Sock just laughs a little and looks at them both, picking up the knife again.  
“well I’ll leave you too it, Sock. You can put on music if you’d like, just keep it quiet. We don’t want some Blue Bay Club going on back here now.”  
Sock’s eyes widen but before he can ask, Lil and Mephi are gone.  
The shift goes by quicker than expected, Sock just chopping away at salad and flipping burgers, thankfully no one asked for anything too complicated this shift. Maybe the other workers around here dealt with that instead.  
As the door closes, he turns up the radio, and sings along.  
Mephi walks in the door, his grin curling, stretching a barely noticeable piercing hole around his lip, where a ring could lay. Sock hadn’t noticed that before. Just how many piercings did he have to take out just to try to look professional? “I love that band… though it’s weird to hear them on your standard radio.”  
“Oh, I had to custom set the tunings to find a station they’re on.” Sock continues cleaning up his workstation, wiping the counters clean with ease.  
“Blue Bay Radio?”  
Sock stops and turns. “You… you go to Blue Bay?”  
“Honey, I’ve practically grown up there. Those guys are my family. Albeit a family that holds a party couple times a week, sometimes every night…” He looks wistfully away, deep in remembrance of the parties before. “I have seen you around, I knew I recognised you somewhere, but I couldn’t quite place where! As soon as I heard the radio it just clicked. But... uh…  I also think we were at high school together. But, you really wouldn’t remember me, I left it rather early, and we were like 2 years apart… Ach, that doesn’t matter. What’s your deal with Blue Bay? Looking to watch or perform? Or both?”  
“Uhm… well…” Sock takes a moment to decide what to tell him and what to withhold for now. “Well, I’ve been going to watch for a few years now… but I guess I am kinda working on a band right now… but we don’t have all the members together yet- “  
“I’d join.”  
“huh?”  
“Yeah man!” Mephi leans carefully against a counter, crossing his arms over himself. “I don’t have any way to get into any other bands, they like how they’re built right now, but I’m _itching_ to get back on drums or guitar or vocals or… something!”  
Sock is taken aback for a second, but then interest overtakes him, and he can’t help but inquire. “Can… can you do all those things?”  
“Eh, I dabble. But if you’re interested, I can try-out. It’d certainly make _work_ interesting, right?”  
“Yeah, I guess so.”  
“Soooock are you ready to come home?” Suddenly a voice floats into the room and Jon walks in. “I was in the area after shopping, so I thought I’d just pick you up and walk home with you- Oh… hello.” Jon’s demeanour shifts only slightly to Mephi but a lot to Sock, suddenly far more subdued and withdrawn, which thankfully looks like politeness. With strangers, Jon changes, but for people he has known for a long time, such as himself, and partially Jojo and Prov, he feels he can afford to be more open. Mephi extends a hand to Jon, and Jon shakes it three times, giving him a little nod.  
“Hi! I’m guessing you’re Sock’s friend? Oh, maybe also bandmate? Or… boyfriend?” Mephi smiles at Jon as his eyes widen slightly. “Oh, sorry, it’s not my business. I was just inquiring about Sock’s band and I just assumed…”  
“Oh, no, it’s okay, Mephi!” Sock says and smiles. He feels this could head in an interesting direction. “Jon, Mephi knows about Blue Bay.”  
“Oh?” Jon perks up a bit.  
“Yeah! Guess that makes me leave a good impression as Sock’s new manager, eh?”  
“Oh, manager…” Jon looks at Sock with a hint of worry, but Sock smiles back lightly, trying to reassure him.  
“Yeah, manager. Don’t worry, I needed this job to pay rent but I’m not intending to be a dick to everyone to get money. I’m a laid-back guy, working hard, playing hard, just like anyone else. Though not everyone rocks out at huge secret parties and concerts in their free time.”  
“Speaking of which,” Sock starts, and Jon looks to him with a mixture of anxiety and interest, “would you want to try out for our band?”  
“Sure thing! As I said, I can sing, play drums, and play guitar. A little bit of bass but nothing good I’m afraid. I’m killer on tambourine though.” Mephi and Sock share a smile.  
“Well! Tryouts are…” Sock trails off and looks at Jon. Jon realises, and looks to sock, quickly to Mephi who looked at him back, making Jon quickly take his eyes off him and back to Sock. “uhm… well... tomorrow actually. We have a room free.”  
“would you be able to break into the high school closest to here?”  
“Of course man, I used to go there. I know all the tricks.” Mephi grinned.  
  
**************  
  
Sock sits in the band room after class, slouched over the desk in front of him, dozing off softly in his standard oversized jersey, a dark purple one today, black skinny jeans and boots, his hat, the one he wears every day listing slightly as he rolled his head in his folded arms, Jon pacing slightly, his baggy hoodie slicing across his jeans as he strode. Jojo sits on her phone, her hair tied into low twintails as she wore a light-coloured baseball cap, donned in ripped stained dark blue jeans and a peach bomber jacket with a shirt with some kind of band label across it, glossy lips moving slightly during chewing gum and delicate fingers texting away. “Are… are you sure about this guy, Sock? We just met him.”  
“Well, technically we didn’t, he’s been at blue bay for years.” Sock replies, trying to recall any moments he saw Mephi amongst the crowds in that club hidden away, bustling with crowds, pushed around by mosh pits, drinking through the night when he chose to drink that night, sometimes Sock wondered how he remembered anything sometimes.  
“Doesn’t make him trustworthy!! You know this, you know some of the shifty folk at blue bay!”  
“oh yeah, man, there’s a _lot_ of shifty guys there. I never accept drinks from anyone but myself or Lil.” Jojo’s input is slipped into the conversation just as the door opens and Mephi walks in. “Yeah, for good reason. Don’t trust any old person there.” He adds. They all look at him. He smirks. “Look, it’s okay to have mistrust in me, over time that can build! But for now, … I’m good at drums, and you appear to need a drummer by the look of that empty seat by the kit.” Looking completely different to when they met at the café. Looking at him, Sock found it hard to believe that he managed to straighten himself out enough to become his manager there. Mephi’s hair was down, still messy, a single lip piercing and spacers alongside 3 more piercings at the top of his ears, two in the left, one in the right. Donning black skinny jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket, a hint of a thicker lashes hinting to make up in some form, but not quite able to place where. He smiles and slips off his jacket, sets it down at the chair closest to him, takes his phone from his jacket pocket and slips it into his jeans pocket. “I might get a business call, but don’t worry I’ve set it to vibrate so that we can still play properly.” He passes by Jon, nodding to him and sock, and sits behind the kit. “What should we play?” He asks, holding the sticks and looking chipper and ready to go.  
“Hm…”  
“Hm… there is one song I’ve wanted to do…” Jojo says. “Blackbird by Alterbridge.”  
“ooh dark, okay, I can do that.” He picks up the sticks and twirls them around his fingers artfully, drawing hope from the others. Jojo picks up her guitar quickly and tries out a few notes before counting in quietly. They start, Jojo and Jon picking across the intro riffs, Sock standing and pretending to look confident, looking over at Jon who gave him a reassuring look. He shifts his feet, centring himself, and allowing the emotion of the song to take over. Grief, death, pain. Emotions Sock had always had a unique bond to. He opened his mouth and began to sing.  
_**(Author’s notes:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz_j7nVCJJ0&t=0s&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=7](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz_j7nVCJJ0&t=0s&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=7) is the official recording of the song, for reference, Sock’s voice sounds like the woman in this video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YkEjur9WOc&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YkEjur9WOc&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=8) )**_  
**  
****_The willow it weeps today_** ** _  
_****_A breeze from the distance is calling your name_** ** _  
_****_Unfurl your black wings and wait_** ** _  
_****_Across the horizon it's coming to sweep you away_** ** _  
_****_It's coming to sweep you away_**  
  
Their song sounding much more amateur than the original, but something was _different_ , things were placing together in a way they hadn’t experienced before, making them feel the rooms around them disappear into peripheral vision, into nothingness, almost taking them to another plane of reality as they soon fell deep into the song. Sock’s voice higher and more effeminate, lacks as much grit as the original singer but can achieve just as much emotion and power when it needs to, if not more.    
  
**_Let the wind carry you home_** ** _  
_****_Blackbird fly away_** ** _  
_********_May you never be broken again_**

 **_Beyond the suffering you've known_ ** ****__  
**_I hope you find your way_ ** **_  
_ ** ******_May you never be broken again_**

Sock grips the bottom of his jersey, bunches of materials in his hands, letting his soul out through his words. Giving away life, letting it go to the higher powers that be, is a higher state of knowledge he is intertwined with but will never understand fully until it’s his time. _Are they in a better place?_ The people who wrote this song believe so strongly that they are. Reminding himself of those he misses, wondering how they are now that they’re gone, he continues. _Maybe one day,_ he thought, _I’ll make such an impact as this_ .  
  
**_Ascend may you find no resistance_ ** ****__  
**_Know that you made such a difference_ ** ****__  
**_All you leave behind will live to the end_ ** ****__  
**_The cycle of suffering goes on_ ** ****__  
**_But memories of you stay strong_ ** **_  
_ ** ******_Someday I too will fly and find you again_**

 **_Let the wind carry you home_ ** ****__  
**_Blackbird fly away_ _  
_ _May you never be broken again_**

 ** _Beyond the suffering you've known_** ** _  
_****_I hope you find your way_** ** _  
_****_May you never be broken again_** ** _  
_****_May you never be broken again…_** ** _  
_****_  
_**The only sounds heard being the feedback from the guitar amps and their sligh breathlessness, the room slowly comes back to them, Sock looking at his bandmates and grinning. “That… was… _amazing_.”  
  
**************  
  
As Jon and Sock entered their home, they found themselves in utter silence, as though so much sound from before had been enough to cover the next few hours. Silently, they took off their shoes and jackets, put their bags on the floor, walked to the living room and sat on the couch, their breath still laboured from the cycling. They turn, slowly, to look at one another, to see an equally excited expression on the other.  
“We… have a _band_.” Sock starts, and immediately, grins start forming on both of their faces.  
“ _We have a band_.” Jon repeats, taking Sock’s hands and laughing. Sock whoops and jumps up. “I’m so excited! Think of all the things we can do now! All the songs that won’t just be boring with a bass guitar and drum kit.”  
“We could cover _all kinds_ of songs! Maybe even different genres?” Jon takes his hands back and sets them on the sides of his face as he thinks of all the possibilities.  
“Wait, wait wait, we shouldn’t count our chickens before they hatch, like for all we know the others might not want to _stay_..”  
They look at each other semi-seriously, however they couldn’t help but to smirk and giggle from excitement.  
“Gosh… we should do something to celebrate our first amazing band practise..” Sock ponders.  
“...Take-out?” Jon suggests.  
“Takeout.” Sock smiles.  
  
**************  
  
A small, quiet girl passes through the shortcut to the store her mother had sent her to, hoping not to bump into anyone from school. She wore a long skirt and T-shirt, and despite knowing how mismatched they were, she had no choice at this point, everything else she owned was in the laundry for the night after using them for school all week. She needed to find more money and time to get better clothes for sure. In between the studying… and the chores… and looking after her little brother…  
She sighs and continues to walk, a hand clasping her money and held in a fist against her chest, as though worried her heart was going to burst out of her chest. She didn’t want to be out on a saturday night, too many people are out on saturday night. She has other things she has to do, like studying, and chores. ‘ _Don’t worry Sel,_ _remember your reward for doing this. You get to play video games for the rest of the night on the DS! Sure, the touch screen might not be the best anymore, but I mean… it IS over a decade old. Anyway, It’ll be over before you know it. Now, remember what you need, what do I need? Oh man… uhm… Oh, Bread! Bread and milk, obviously.. Try to get sanitary pads too… that incident in P.E can’t happen again. what else? Oh, Tommy is sick.. so he needed… calpol, and… Oh, there was one more thing, why can’t I think right now? Why can’t I be calm right now, like everyone else?_ ’ Again, a sigh. She knew she’d remember once she was in the store. She turns the corner, the store in sight, but she stops in her tracks.  
Sat in front of the store, chatting amongst themselves as empty bottles and cans littered the group around them and smoke and vapour filled the air, was the exact people she didn’t want to see tonight. Her heart sank, and yet she kept walking, nearing closer to the store and her bullies.  
  
**************  
  
Jojo sat on the ledge outside the store, scrolling through her phone, while her friends drunkenly yelled at each other over who was hotter out of a group of girls they hardly even knew. She had had a few drinks herself, but turned down anything more, as she still felt a kind of high from band practise earlier. She felt a sense of hope, a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a long time, and it made her question what exactly her position was in her life. Was she in the right place for now? Or should she make a change? If her friends had found out she was in a band with Sock and Jon, they would laugh for hours. Is that reasonable to do? Are they worth that reaction?  
“Oh my god, look who it is.” One of her friends giggle, and she peers up from her phone to see Seline, visibly nervous, heading towards them. She guessed Seline needed to go to the store. Jojo didn’t want something like this tonight, just when things were going well for her.  
“What is she _wearing??_ ” One of them laughs.  
“She looks like an old woman.”  
“She doesn’t give a shit about her appearance _at all_.”  
“I doubt she even washes.”  
“I heard from Leslie that she has blood all over her underwear in P.E the other day, and she just _put her pants back on.._ She just _sat_ in it all day apparently!”  
“That’s not true.” Jojo starts. They all look back at her. “I was there in P.E too.”  
They pause for a minute, but then start again, as usual. “Didn’t she use the school toilet paper as a pad?”  
“EW!” An uproar of laughter startles Sel, which makes them laugh even more. She hurries past them, and as she does, they suddenly go quiet, their eyes tracing her, throwing daggers at her like she’s a dartboard. She stares at the ground, but just before she enters the store, her eyes lift, and connect with Jojo’s. They look at each other as Sel passes by, for what feels like eternity, and Jojo feels something darken in her stomach and her face drop. What is she doing to these people? ‘ _It’s not fair, I shouldn’t be letting them be hurt like this! But… what can I do…_ ’ Jojo looks back down at her phone, and as a result, Sel looks to her feet again, battling the tears the threatened to build in her eyes, the door opens, closes and laughter fills the air again, unbearable upon her ears. Since starting senior years in high school, everyone had changed. Sure, they had always been shady towards others but not outright _cruel_ like they are now. Their interests have changed, their looks have changed, Jojo wasn’t sure what they wanted to achieve from their efforts anymore. Was it merely for popularity? Will they change again? For better or for worse?  
She scoffs lightly and gets up. “I’m off to buy some soda then I’m heading home. Later.”  
They look at her and eventually nod “Oh okay, see you later Jojo!” One of them, Rosie, someone who sat with her when she cried over exes and parents being difficult and school worries, looks to her with an expression Jojo couldn’t read. Was it confusion, nonchalance? Did she still care? Another, Michael, someone who always made her laugh with his jokes and sass, who helped her pick out the best thing to wear to a party time and time again, rushes over and hugs her with a little smile on his face. The hug feels awkward. The rest, Peter, Melissa and Georgie, who all went to a different elementary school than Jojo and who were always very close with one another, a little sub-group within the bigger group, yet who added a fun company and usually alcohol, bluetooth speakers and cars to drive around in, give a little wave and turn back to their conversation. She pulls back and smiles and turns and enters the store.  
Walking around, her thoughts had drastically changed, and her old thoughts were battling them. These people were a cornerstone of her life, when she went through shit they were there. She pauses at the soda and looks at the can she picked up in her hand. HAD they been there for her? Or did they just provide helpful distractions that still were fun for them? What if she had asked anyone that wasn’t Rosie to sit and chat the whole night, would they of complied? Maybe Michael would too, but that’s it. Michael, she always thought, was understanding, but he’s always the cruelest towards other students,especially towards how they looked. He even viewed distaste for Jojo’s rocker style. The term “Sucker Punch gone very wrong” used to make her laugh at herself, but now she feels shame remembering how they would laugh at her too. The tone he used, sat weirdly with her now. What Jojo originally viewed as a funny fashion judge is now just a bully. Bullies.  
“Is that all we are?” She asks aloud.  
She hears someone muttering to themselves, and looks down an aisle to see Sel standing there, a barely filled basket, bread, milk, cold medicine, and there she stood, with sanitary pads in her hand, looking to them then looking at the money in the other hand, seeming to calculate the costs. She looks over to the pads, and slowly puts them back down. Jojo feels a low sense of horror in the pit of her stomach. She puts the soda down and walks over to where Sel was about to turn away. She picks up the pads Sel had looked at and tapped her shoulder. Sel turned, saw her, and Jojo swore she saw her go paler than she already was. “O-oh, yes?” She gives a small smile, yet her anxiety is evident. Jojo looks to her, feeling heavy with guilt and shame, and mutters. “I’ll buy you these if you want.”  
Sel looks to her, confusion flashing across her face. “Wh-...what?” She looks around behind Jojo, expecting the others to be there, expecting to hear laughter, expecting to be ashamed even more than she already was.  
“The others aren’t here. I ditched them. They were too drunk for my tastes. I just wanna chill tonight.” Jojo says, she puts the pads in the basket and holds out 3 dollars. “Please get the pads.” Jojo whispers. Sel hesitates, but assesses Jojo carefully, and gently takes the money. “Th...thank you. I-I’d usually be able to get them myself, uhm, but my brother needs this medicine and it’s pretty pricey.” She laughs nervously, and goes to continue explaining herself, yet Jojo holds up a hand. “no need to explain, everyone’s got something going on, right?”  
“...Right.” Sel looks hesitant still, but something had changed in her anxiety. It was smaller, she was calmer. Jojo gives a small smile, a little “See you later”, and turns, walking back to the soda fridge. Now, with a brand new interaction she never would’ve considered before, new paths in her life forming with her band, her thoughts and her social life, she felt a small feeling again, reminding her, that there was indeed hope.


	2. Mic Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mic night is finally here, are the band ready?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please refer to Notes from chapter 1 for all the playlist information!!
> 
> Tonight is finally mic night! I can't wait to see how people feel about this chapter. Here's hoping for the best from the band!!

“It’s the open mic night tomorrow!!” Jon says excitedly as he grabs his bass guitar, Sock walking over to the drum kit. “I had a chat with one of the higher-ups at the club and they said that if we do well enough during the open mic, we might have a place at their Newbies concert in 2 weeks’ time!”  
“What, for real??” Jojo says excitedly, the door slamming as she comes into the room, making Sock jump then glare over to her, then shaking his head and turning away. “That’s… where bands are made…”  
“Yeah! And I think we’re for sure gonna do it.” Jon smiles, and then the door slams again as Mephi walked in, or more rather stumbled.  
“Mephi? You okay there?”  
“Y-yeah, sorry… i’m just a bit tired out. I’ll be fine.”  
Jon and Sock look to one another with concern as Mephi sits down at the kit.  
“Mephi, do you need to rest or anything?”  
“no, no! Not at all! music wakes me right up usually.” Mephi feigns a smile.  
“Fine then..” Jon says hesitantly, readying up his bass.  
They start to go through their small setlist for the open mic night, two or three songs, but something was off. The beat was off. Eventually the last song finished, flat. Jon turns to Mephi. “What’s going on, man?”  
“What do you mean? I’m fine-“  
“No you’re not.”  
“Look dude, I don’t survive on folk telling me how I do and don’t feel.”  
“Okay, how do you survive? Because you’re not surviving very well right now, you’re almost passing out at the kit!” Jojo jumps in after Jon finds himself with a lack of response after Sock’s anxious glare towards him.  
“Okay, ya know what, fine. I’ll show you how I survive. C’mon, guys! Band roadtrip!” Mephi says and stands up suddenly, walking to leave the room, he opens the door, and walks out. The rest of the band all look to each other, and Mephi pops his head back in again. “...C’mon then!” He waves to them. They all look to each other again, quickly put away their instruments and follows him outside the classroom. They begin to walk down the corridor, the lights dimly lit, the corridor lined with lockers and closed doors, the singular windows on the door showing nothing inside, dark classrooms only lit by a pale moonlight, curving around chairs and desks, around glass tubes in the science corridor on the way to the back exit. They pass a staff room, the light still on, and the door still open.  
They pass, expecting to either see no one, or the janitor but instead they spot Prov sitting, working on a large piece of paper, glasses on, hair slightly disheveled.  
“Prov!” Jojo says, quickly turning into the classroom.  
“Oh brother.” Mephi mumbles and awkwardly hangs around outside of the classroom while the rest enter the room.  
“I’d ask what you guys are doing here but I already know the…. ans..wer…” Prov trails off as she sees Mephi standing in the hallway. Mephi looks from the dark hallway to her, and they share eye contact for an uncomfortable few seconds, before Prov speaks up. “What are you doing here again?”  
“Band.”  
“Guitarist?”  
“Drummer.”  
“Huh.”  
The remaining three people awkwardly look to one another then between Mephi and Prov. The tension in the room could’ve been cut with a knife.  
“You know, I distinctly remember you telling me, well, you were screaming, so everyone, more rather, that you would, and I quote “never step foot in this disgusting school ever again”?”  
“I distinctly remember you saying you would kill me if I ever did, and yet here we both stand. In the school.”  
Jojo grimaces and lets out a small “welp.”  
“Well, times change, people change. I’m head girl now, and I have responsibilities to uphold. Wouldn’t be setting a good example for everyone if I killed someone, now would I?”  
“No, you would not. And if I acted the way I did again as a manager, well, I’d easily lose my job.”  
“Manager? How did you manage that?”  
“With hard work, Prov.”  
“I didn’t realise you were capable of it.”  
Jon clears his throat. “Well! We were just off on a little, uh, band roadtrip,” he lines his words with an awkward laughter, so we’ll… uh… we’ll be heading!” Jon quickly starts to walk out of the room, Sock raising his finger and opening his mouth, about to ask something, but Jon quickly silences him by putting a hand over his mouth lightly and guiding him out of the room, Jojo following suit, grabbing the door handle and slowly closing it. Mephi had already walked off, about 5 feet away from them already. Before closing the door, Jojo turns to Prov. “Call me, hun.”  
“Why would I call a bully?” Prov asks, making jojo run cold. There’s a small pause and before Jojo leaves, prov adds “Sorry. I… I will.”  
“Ok.” Jojo replies, her voice small, as she was again reminded how she handled herself to be viewed by all the right peers, and how well she had integrated herself with all the wrong ones.  
The door clicking shut can be heard from the other corridor that the rest were standing at, and light running footsteps of Jojo rang out as she caught up with them.  
She turned to see Sock halfway through licking Jon’s hand, which was still over Sock’s mouth. Jon exclaims in disgust, causing Sock to display an abundant look of smugness on his face as the hand retracts. Jon looks at Sock and rolls his eyes, shaking his head at him. “Let’s go.” Mephi said, continuing to walk, not even bothering to check if anyone had followed.  
“So, uhh… wanna talk about what just happened there?” Jojo asked.  
“No.”  
“I mean, it seems to be getting to y-”  
“okay, okay, we dated for a while, things got shitty, we broke up, not talked since.. that’s it.”  
“Right.”  
“Okay.”  
“Okay.”  
“... How did things get shitty?” Sock asked.  
“Do you, uhm, maybe remember that you work for me?” Mephi replies and Sock looks away from them and continues walking, his face flushing slightly.  
A pause fills the corridor, stillness so quiet you could hear a pin drop, before Mephi speaks up again. “Don’t worry though, Jojo will fill you in on it, she’s texting Prov right now.”  
“You’re smart.” jojo says, her face in her phone.  
“I get girls.”  
“You get girls as in understand them, or get them as in… get them.”  
“Uh… both? By that standard I get boys too.”  
“Ha.” Jojo cracks up a little, but her focus quickly returns to her phone.  
“Wait… you… uh…-”  
“I’ve had boyfriends and girlfriends. Well, even had folk who don’t feel like they’re boys or girls, just how I feel about things, people are people, ya know?” Changing the subject seemed to have brightened him up a bit, as he opens the exit door with a energy. The cold air hits them and they hiss, Mephi shuddering against it. “Man, I’ve never been used to cold.” He continues walking through the car park and out of the school property, the band following behind. They continue to walk in silence for about 10 minutes until Sock pipes up. “Where are we going? It feels like we’re heading towards…”  
“Blue Bay Club? It should feel like that. I live near there, that’s why I go there now and again when I have time.”  
“Oh sweet! I’m guessing you’re in the apartment blocks nearby?”  
“You could say that.”  
“Coooool!” Sock says enthusiastically.  
They continue walking towards the club, music playing softly from the venue. “Wonder what’s going on tonight?”  
“Probably one of their LGBT date nights. I’ve been a few times, met some cute folk there too.” Mephi smiles to himself as he continues walking along.  
“Oh! Anyone recent?” Jon chuckles as he nudges Mephi softly. Mephi grins and shrugs a little. “Maybe… There’s this guy.. we met there… I haven’t really made many moves though.”  
“Ohhh! Why not, man?! You’ve probably got a great chance of getting a good catch.”  
“Why do you think that is, Jon? Do you wanna catch me?” Mephi jokes and Jon coughs. “No, hell no man!” Mephi laughs. “I’m just pulling your leg, Jon. Anyway, how come I’ve never seen you guys at one of those nights?”  
“I like to meet people outside of Blue Bay. I like to keep my life there away from everything else.” Jojo says quietly, and Jon and Sock immediately nod.  
“Yeah, what Jojo says…”  
“You sound hesitant, Jon. Why not go?” Sock inquired, and Jon glares at him.  
“Why would I go to a LGBT date night??” Jon scoffs and looks away. Mephi rolls his eyes.  
“Why wouldn’t you?” Sock replies, surefire, setting Jon off kilter. He stares at Sock and Sock realises himself and looks away suddenly. “Not as though I care or anything.”  
“Okay, enough digging into Jon’s private life and closet-”  
“Dude-”  
“We’re here!”  
A silence falls over them and all that can be heard from the carpark of the apartment block is the faraway hum of Blue Bay basslines. They look around, then to Mephi. There’s some tarp nearby where a small alcove sits, away from all of the parked cars, and completely out of view from the entrance of the apartments, away from the glinting eye of CCTV, away from everything.  
“I, uh… I don’t understand.” Sock says, looking to the door that leads to the apartments. “When are we gonna go in?” Motioning to the door, Sock questioningly looks to Mephi. Mephi looks at Sock. “We’re here.” He repeats. He starts walking to the tarp.  
“Dude…” Jon repeats also, his tone different. “Are you… kidding?”  
“This is heavy.” Jojo says, following Mephi to the tarp.  
Pulling it back, inside sits a camping lamp, a sleeping bag and a cardboard box lazily hidden under a garbage bag. “This is mi casa. Humble, I know, but as Drake says…” he tapers off, climbing in and jojo following after, Sock and Jon budging in.  
“I.. I don’t understand.” Jon says, looking around. “Aren’t you a manager?”  
“I lied my way to that position, look in the box, you’ll see two suits. They were my dads’. Good thing at least past, drunk me was smart enough to steal something helpful before he was thrown out. I wore the blue one to the interview, got my boyfriend at the time to make me look as cool as possible, managed to get a shower at his, managed to print a CV before I left high school too.”  
“Man… surely, there’s some place you can move in-”  
“I’m fine here. I don’t need help.”  
“You say that, but you’re in living in a carpark-”  
“It’s just… it’s just part of the plan. I’m working on getting a place to move into. Once I have enough money.”  
“Surely you should’ve had something to start off with, or by now had enough to move in somewhere-”  
“I spent it on drink.”  
“You...you what?” Jon says, staring at him. “Wait, so, so far you’ve spent your income on booze?”  
“No, I’ve saved about a month’s worth.”  
“You’ve been the manager for 4 months.” Sock adds. “Lil told me.”  
“Yeah, and I didn’t even visit until a month ago, ridiculous right? I’m not like that anymore. I’m working on getting better.”  
“What do you mean, getting better.”  
“Let’s just say, I’ve made a few mistakes-”  
“He was addicted to alcohol.” Jojo interrupts, her head rising from her phone.  
“and here it is. I know Jojo would get to the bottom of it.” Mephi looked at her with a fake grin.  
“Man...Why didn’t you tell us? About any of this?” Jon says sharply. Mephi looks at him, a mixture of shock and confusion on his face. Sock looks at both of them anxiously. Mephi scoffs and his eyes seem to harden like glass. “Do I have to tell you everything? You’re so naive.”  
“I just feel like we could’ve helped you, Sock and I have our own place you could’ve crashed-”  
“crashed?” Mephi’s voice raises. “I’m fed up of crashing!! Just let me fall on my own for once and I’ll pick myself back up, okay? All you need to worry about is that I hit the drums in time with your songs, okay? And then after the open mic night, and the concert if we get our own setlist, you won’t need to worry about me then, okay? I’m sure some other dude with less alcohol issues could be your perfect little drummer boy.”  
The air grows stale. Jon and Mephi grab each other’s eye contact, and then Jon gets up and leaves the alcove, Sock following after. “Jon, Jon!” Sock says, and grabs Jon’s hand, Jon immediately snatching it away. Sock looks at him in shock. “What is it, Sock? What? You back to defend him again?”  
“Dude, what is your problem? Some people just have bad luck, and everyone makes mistakes! Give him some slack!”  
“I am so stupid...-”  
“What?”  
“No… you… you don’t understand…I’m so stupid, Sock.” Jon’s tone and face changes, darkens, and suddenly a strong sense of sadness comes from him, Sock suddenly set off his path of defense and begins to get confused, even more so when Jon reaches out for him and pulls him into a hug. Sock holds him and Jon sighs sadly, and Sock’s confusion fades for a while as he prioritises comforting Jon for whatever reason was wrong. He knew he had to figure out what was wrong, but maybe, that was for a later time. For now, he wasn’t sure what to say at all.  
“I- I-” Sock begins but is quickly interrupted with the sound of Mephi shouting as he and Jojo walked to where they were. “Jon? Jon, are you still there?? I wanted to… apologise…” Jon and Sock suddenly stand apart from one another, looking away from each other, and Jon recomposes himself and looks to Mephi. “Uh, yeah, what’s up?”  
Mephi looks to the both of them, confused, but then turns back to Jon. “I just… want to apologise… for being rude earlier.”  
“No, honestly, I’m… I’m sorry. I just want to help. But please, please let us help you.”  
“I-” Mephi turns away from Jon as he tries to form a sentence and sees a familiar face and panics, looking down at himself, making sure he looked good. “Uhhhh-hmmm…”  
A man walks up to the group, tall, slightly muscular, hair immaculate and dark brown, as are his eyes that stare inquisitively at someone. “Mephi! It’s good seeing you around here. Were you inside the club?”  
“Oh, n-no. I was… just around… the area.” Mephi says but trails off when he looks up at the man and his eyes are caught with the man’s intensive stare. “um, um… guys, I haven’t introduced you all yet! This is Owen, and uh, Owen, this is… well.. my band!”  
“Oh, sweet!” Owen’s face lights up at the mention of a band. “I guess I’ll see you lot at the open mic night then.”  
Another man walks up to Owen and takes his hand. “C’mon Owen, we need to get going- Oh, hi new people.” He says lightly. Owen looks over to him with a smirk. “okay then, let’s go. See you around, Mephi. Band.” He nods to them and walks away, arm in arm with the mystery partner.  
Jojo hisses in an inhale and goes to pat Mephi on the shoulder, Mephi pulling away and turning around. “Practise is over for today. We’ll be fine for tomorrow. I just want to be alone right now.” Mephi says, his voice low, his face sullen, his movements defeated. Sock starts to go after him, but Jojo places a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head at him. “Let him go. This kinda thing sucks.”  
“We need to find a way to help him, guys.” Jon says, his eyes following as Mephi turns the corner and disappears.  
“Yes, but there’s nothing we can do tonight.” Jojo says.  
They turn and begin to walk away, back towards the school.  
“Uh, do you think the janitor locked the door to the music room? We didn’t tell him we were leaving like we usually do.”  
“...Oh crap.”  
“If any guitars are magically gone tomorrow, say nothing.”

**************

Jojo waved to Jon and Sock as they rode away on their bikes, the night running into early morning hours by this time. Thank god it was a saturday tomorrow, and they had the chance to rest and possibly pull a last minute practise before the performance at the open mic. She yawned lightly and started walking back to her house. Her parents will probably be asleep by now, hopefully not too mad that she stayed out so late. She walked past a high fence and did what she usually did, look out through the small path that lead to a hill that overlooked some of the town and what she saw surprised her. Someone was sitting there. Sel. And so she changed her course, instead of heading home, she headed to the hill, to sit beside her.

****************

Sock walked across from his room to John’s, rubbing his eyes and slowly opening the door. He saw Jon sitting there, his eyes darting around pieces of paper where scribbles of a plan for the mic night lay. He looked anxious. Very anxious. Jon pretended to others to give off an aire of nonchalance, but it soon became clear to his best friend and roommate, Sock, that he only felt that relaxed if everything had been planned out beforehand. everything. It wasn’t quite on the same level of ‘control freak’, not quite on the same level as Prov planning everything about her life out, but there had to be some kind of basic plan for very important occasions, or for things Jon felt worried about. Sock usually could tell if Jon was worried about something if he found plans about it. And for this, there were plans everywhere.  
“Jon..” Sock says gently, and stops Jon’s constantly scribbling hand. Jon pauses, and looks up at him, his worried expression quickly changes to a smile. “What’s up, man?”  
“I was about to ask the same thing to you… Are you okay?” Sock sits down beside him on the floor, the plans strewn across Jon’s bedroom floor.  
“Yeah, I mean no, I mean… I dunno. I had Mephi over here-” Jon points to a scribble on a page, “-and Jojo here-” he points to another scribble and then another, “-and you here… but then on this page-” Jon grabs another piece of paper, “-I had this plan-”  
“Jon.” Sock takes Jon’s hand and Jon takes a breath.  
“sorry… sorry.”  
“Okay, let’s sort this out…”

After clearing away the pieces of paper, Sock had laid out duvets and pillows to lie on, both of them lying down while the Television in Jon’s room gently floated sounds of Jon’s favourite show to their ears. “I didn’t realise it meant this much to you.” Sock said gently.  
“Yeah… I really, really like the idea of a band, Sock, I honestly can’t explain why. Just… the feeling of being together and creating cool stuff together… I really feel like I could do that for a long, long time. And I want to get to it right away.”  
“Well, you don’t need to get to it so soon, you do realise that, right?”  
Jon pauses, and does not respond. Sock sits up and looks at Jon. Jon stares at him, and then rolls his eyes. “Yeah. I know.”  
“There’s no rush, and there’s no need to panic. This journey, it’s super cool! And, not only that, but it doesn’t need to be scary either. Please, remember that.”  
“Right.” Jon says, looking away. Sock could tell he was thinking over his words, and that’s the least Sock asked of him. He accepts this and lays back down, sighing contently.  
“Well, I’m definitely excited to see what happens tonight.”  
“Yeah… me too.”  
Sock could tell there was some trepidation in Jon’s voice, but he decided to leave it for now, and instead let the TV make the noise for them.

****************

Jon tapped his foot impatiently as he checked the clock. The band taking the stage played loudly and brashly, the crowd moshing feverently from what he could hear from the sound of footsteps like a stampede just a few feet away from him as he stood in the hot, heavy air of the backstage area. “Where is he. Where. Is. He.” He asks, looking around with anxious anticipation.  
“It’s okay Jon. It’ll be okay-” Sock goes to comfort him but Jon shrugs it off, catching Sock off-guard and his face hardens slightly, looking away from him. Jojo looks between the two of them and rolls her eyes. “Look guys, I don’t know what’s going on here, but our main concern is having a drummer. We could maybe ask other people incase Mephi is a no-show?”  
“If Mephi is a no-show, we have no show.” Jon says to her, just as they hear thumping behind the stage exit door near them. They hear someone exclaim and shuffling of feet.  
“I swear to God, that better be him.” Jon storms over to the door and opens it to see Mephi there, but he wasn’t alone. Owen was there, locking lips heavily with him, his arms around him, holding him tightly. “Mnh- Owen- I gotta- haha!! No, not there~ I’ve got to go~” Mephi slurs slightly, pushing him away. He turns his head and looks at Jon. “Oh, hi! You know Owen.” Mephi’s tone turns playful as he says Owen’s name, seemingly spurring on the other man to kiss his now exposed neck, Mephi chuckles and before it escalates in front of him, Jon slams the door and turns around. Jojo raises her eyebrows while she turns around and looks away, her eyes now trained on her phone. Sock stares at the door with his mouth slightly ajar. Jon blinks at him. “Sock, snap out of it.”  
“He- Mephi- That guy- he- Owen- they- kissing- what-” He takes and moment and stands a little straighter, his mouth closed now. “What.” He repeats.  
“You never got drunk, kid?” Jojo says. “You’d be surprised what people will throw away or throw themselves at when drunk. At least it finally got Owen to come clean to Mephi. Or Mephi to come clean to Owen? I’m not sure both of them were ignoring the other for some stupid reason.”  
“Wait, drunk?” Jon asks, his voice heightens as his guess is confirmed. “I knew I smelt alcohol, but I was so hoping Mephi wasn’t….” Jon trails off as Jojo looks at him and shrugs. “Dunno what to tell you man.”  
“urgh.” Jon opens the door, trying to ignore the display playing out before his eyes as he grabs Mephi and drags him through the stage exit into the backstage area, then saying a falsely cheerful “bye bye, Owen!” before closing the door. He swore he saw Owen smirk before the door closed and Mephi practically giggled, his face red and his shirt parted open. Jon rolled his eyes and did Mephi’s shirt back up as much as he could before realising the top three buttons were missing. “He ripped the shirt.” Mephi smirked.  
“Dude, pull yourself together. We perform in… five minutes!!” Jon says and he and Jojo guides him over to the refreshments. He hands Mephi a coffee. “Drink. Now.”  
“You sure about that?” Jojo questions and Jon nods. “it’s the best we’ve got right now.”  
“I could go get Prov and ask what she used to do with Meph-”  
“urgh Prov-” Mephi groans and gulps down the coffee like a shot. “She’s here? Should she be like… making a new rota for her rota-making class or some shit?? Why can’t she get a grip, learn to have some fun for once? What I did when I was with her wasn’t even that bad. I felt like.. I had to leave because of her, that bi-”  
“Okay, let’s get you sobered up!” Jon says as he dumps a cup of water over Mephi’s head. Mephi yelps and flinches drastically, shuddering as he kneels to the ground slightly. “What the- dude!!” Mephi stands up and tries to get whatever water he can off of himself. “Urgh my shirt… fine then. I’m ready to drum whenever guys, I’m ready!”  
Jon and Sock exchange worried glances. Jojo bites back a smirk. “This is gonna be interesting.”  
“For… sure…” Jon says and turns when a man calls them to their places as the band who had just played leaves the stage amidst a roaring crowd. They had knocked the house down.  
“Well, time… time to go!” Jon works himself up. “Let’s go guys!!”  
“Yeah!!” Sock says, grinning.  
“Can’t wait.” Jojo tries to say unenthusiastically, but a grin starts growing on her and soon she’s standing beside Sock with the same expression as him. Mephi just smirks at him and stands behind them all.  
Jon first, quickly followed by Sock to take the mic and Jojo and Mephi follow together, Jojo waving to the crowd and Mephi already gaining cheers from regulars and friends from the crowd.  
“Are you guys ready?!” Mephi yells and the crowd cheers loudly for him. He laughs and slams the sticks together, already counting in the bar for their first song, a high-octane ‘Na Na Na’ by My Chemical Romance. Jon grips his instrument and Jojo laughs as she’s more than ready to join in, rocking along with Mephi, and eventually Jon and Sock relax into the song, knowing that if they didn’t, they ran the risk of ruining it. Mephi went crazy at the kit, rocking out. Someone in the crowd screamed his name and he grinned devilishly. Sock prepared himself to sing, in a higher key than the original. This was it.  
He got through the first two verses, his heart beating in his chest. He needed to up the game, the music taking him as he felt like he left his stage, no longer grounded, focused on the song, he began to belt at the chorus, the crowd screaming. Jon could see shocked faces around the audience as Sock effortless passed over high notes with power and precision, and he couldn’t help but grow a huge grin on his face as he got even more into the song. Amidst the applause, Mephi took off his shirt and dabbed at his forehead with it, running to centre stage and throwing it, Jojo’s laughter being caught by her backup mic. As the shirt fell it landed in a stranger’s arms, Mephi’s eyes cascaded up through the crowd until it hit Prov’s, who stood with her arms crossed, talking to Lil who held the merch stand, yet her eyes stayed focused on the stage. Mephi stepped back, and went close to Sock, whispering. “Sock, lemme… lemme take the next song.” Mephi mumbles, and lightly pushes at Sock towards the drum kit.  
“What?”  
“Please? ‘Pieces of Truth’’? Can I do it? I… I think I could.. uh… knock the house down.” Mephi grins and takes Sock’s shoulders and guides him to the drums. “Don’t worry! I’ve got this!” Mephi stumbles over to the mic stand, grabbing it. Sock and Jon exchange worried glances as Jojo rolls her eyes. Mephi grins to them and nods to Sock, who counts them into the bar. They start playing, Sock can feel her heart beating in anxiety, and tries to work it into his drumming, Jon’s face calming as he focusses on his basslines and Jojo grins as she starts playing. She knew something was up, and she couldn’t wait to see how this all played out.  
Prov stood still, her face visibly paled when she saw Mephi take the stand. She could already see he was drunk from a mile off. The crowd started cheering and dancing along. Prov doubted most of them knew where this song was even from, if any of them had heard it before. For whose benefit was this song for?  
Depending on who chose it in the set list, and she had no doubt it was Mephi, she knew.  
Mephi looked around the crowd, and locked eyes with her. She froze. He sang.

**_(Author’s Note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3rmv5zuT2g &list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=10&t=0s )_ **

 

_**The little pieces of truth** _   
_**they stick around forever** _   
_**I should have known about you** _   
_**before we got together** _

_**But we did it** _   
_**yeah we done it** _   
_**I wonder what did i get myself into** _   
_**with you** _   
_**When i piece it together, baby,** _   
_**I put so many holes in you** _   
_**Yeah, you** _

He points at her and she hides behind the dancing crowd, hoping it looked like a general point to the audience. She felt her cheeks flush with humiliation, and to make it worse, Mephi sounded amazing.  
Jon looks to Mephi in confusion, realising the pointing was clearly aimed. He looks out among the audience as he continues playing, trying to find who it was, and spots Prov, who looks clearly mortified. The clicks in Jon’s head that this entire performance was for the sake of revenge, humiliation of an ex the drunken singer was frustrated with, and Jon had to turn away from the audience slightly, gritting his teeth with anger. Sock spots his expression from the drums, and watches with caution, but the song still sounded amazing. He tried not to worry as he kept in time with everyone.

 

_**Little pieces of sticks** _   
_**and a bucket of stones** _   
_**I'm afraid i'll be leaving you all alone** _   
_**But i come back around** _   
_**got some pieces of truth** _   
_**Even though it won't make no difference to you-** _   
_**Yeah, you** _

_**Digging trouble** _   
_**with a shovel** _   
_**You serve it up in so many different ways** _   
_**Now i got so burned that i learned** _   
_**not to hear another word that you say** _

_**But we did it,**_  
 _ **Yeah you done it,**_  
 _ **What the fuck did i get myself into**_  
 _ **with you**_  
As Mephi sings, he grabs his head, almost in frustration, but it worked into his favour with singing. Prov swallowed nervously, keeping a strong face as she watched what she hoped only she and maybe her band members could tell was a drunken meltdown.  
_**When i piece it together baby,**_  
 _ **I put so many holes in you**_

_**Digging trouble** _   
_**with your shovel** _   
_**You serve it up in so many different ways** _   
_**Now i got so burned that i learned** _   
_**not to hear another word -** _

_**Don't mess with the mess-around!!** _

Mephi jumps down from the stage and raises his arms to the crowd, the crowd cheering loudly and bumping him as he stumbled around slightly. At one moment, it looked like he was going to walk right up to her, and she began to panic, thinking of her response, but her face went cold as he looked at her with an expression she couldn’t recognise and he climbed back onto the stage to take the drums again with a small stumble, Sock moving out of the way before he became a pin to knock down. He looks at Mephi, his heart thumping.  
Jon walks over to the kit, anger seeping through his face, but Sock gives him a cautionary glance, and a quick. “We’re on stage.”  
Jon closes his eyes for a second, then turns to Jojo and motions to the crowd slightly, indicating to ask her to close the show for them. That was the last song any of them were willing to play tonight.  
Jojo nodded slightly and turned to the crowd, taking one of the mics stands and shouting excitedly. “We’ve been Hell’s Angels THANK YOU!!” Jojo says and leaves the stage as Sock and Jon guide Mephi off stage. Mephi grabs a can of beer and downs half of it before Jon can struggle it out his hands, and pushes him out of the venue through the back exit. Mephi grins at then as he turns, cheering and whooping loudly. “We did… we did it!!”  
They hear the sound of running footsteps as Owen comes around the corner and hugs him tightly. “Mephi, you… you did… amazing! You were all amazing!” Owen says excitedly.  
“Mephi, you broke our plan, our whole plan for tonight, over some drink?” Jon fumed. “How much have you had?”  
“Barely anything Jon, barely anything at all…”  
“I saw you at the bar near the town centre at, like 2pm, drinking.”  
“You met me at 5pm, Mephi. Were you drinking for 2 hours beforehand?” Owen says, a small look of confusion on his face. “That’s pretty intense for a night out. Why didn’t you just relax in your apartment?”  
The band goes silent and Owen looks between them, confused.  
“You haven’t even told your boyfriend.” Jon mutters.  
“Owen isn’t my boyfriend.” Mephi says. Owen’s hands clench a little, but then they relax again as he takes a breath. “What’s going on. Mephi just told me that he’s having some drink to calm the nerves and have a good time for mic night, but I’m seeing how you’re all looking at him. Can someone please just tell me what’s going on?”  
“I’m an alcoholic, Owen! I mean, what did you expect? You meet me at Blue Bay, I practically live here, I’m a disowned mess with no life and, guess what, no apartment! I’m homeless. I’m… I’m sorry that I just wanted one night where I felt on top of the world!!” Mephi turns and walks away before anyone can stop him, Owen looking at them all and then turning to chase after him.  
“God…” Jon says, pacing and running his hands through his hair.  
Jojo looks between them both, Sock looking to her then beyond her, to spot someone looking at them from the corner of the building. “Is that… Sel? From high school?”  
Immediately, Jojo turns to see her, still, then she turns back to them and simply says. “I gotta go, call me later.” Jojo says, and walks off, as Sel creeps back from the corner as Jojo follows her away.  
Silence settles over Sock and Jon while Jon still paces, stopping, sighing and shaking his head.  
“All I wanted was a band. All I wanted was to have a good time with a cool band. But it never works out that way, I should’ve expected as much. I should’ve trusted my intuition.”  
“What are you talking about, Jon?”  
“I shouldn’t of taken Mephi on.”  
Sock stands still for a second, and it clicks, and his expression changes to one of anger. “Are you kidding?”  
Jon looks to him in slight shock. “What?”  
“This is what’s been getting to you all day? You’ve been thinking of getting rid of Mephi?! You didn’t even tell anyone about this, you just let us do the mic night while you had such little faith in him?”  
“No, Sock, you don’t get it-”  
“Oh I get it, well, I’ll say it again, people make mistakes, people have hard times in life, he deserves a place in the band just as much as any other person! We just need to help him a little, that’s all-”  
Jon clenches his fist and throws the beer can that remained in his hand to the ground, cutting Sock off.  
“No, listen to me, Sock. I am so stupid, I am so stupid, for taking anyone on as a band leader, without even asking what’s going on in their personal life. Mephi has so many issues right now, and I can just tell some sort of internal struggle is going on with Jojo, what else am I missing? What else am I failing to notice? Failing to fix? And I know something’s going on with you, something, I don’t understand what, I’ve seen how you look at me, and how I look at you, and it’s fucking weird because I don’t understand, I don’t seem to understand anything! Are you hurting? Am I hurting you? Am I hurting them? I just handled that like a fucking idiot! I just let Mephi storm off with some guys we barely even know, and I’ve let you believe that I hated Mephi because I didn’t tell you anything?! Just… how much more useless and demanding am I going to get?!” Jon yells, his eyes glazing over with tears. Sock stares, in shock, and as tears spill down, and the words ‘how much more useless am I going to get?’ replay in Socks head, something changes in his mind. Sock grabs him, and pulls him into a kiss, soft, lasting, Jon’s eyes wide open with surprise but quickly closing as they moved closer, seeking for comfort and affection in the other’s touch, a gently holding of one another, not even hugging. The night seemed to suddenly quiet, and nothing seemed to matter to them in this world asides from this exact moment in time, where, finally, they had done what their minds wanted them to do for so long. Jon suddenly snaps out of it and grabs Sock by the shoulder, practically prying them apart. Sock looks at Jon’s shocked expression, his red lips parted as he tried to catch his breath, his eyes wide and fixated on Sock, who looked equally as shocked. He suddenly reaches a hand to his mouth, his eyes widen with shock. “Jon, I-”  
“Sock…” Jon’s voice different, in a tone Sock didn’t quite understand but made him get chills down his spine, uttered Sock’s voice gently, their faces still so close...nearing again… Sock felt entranced by him, like he was hypnotised, and nothing more made sense than to get close to him again.  
Then the stage exit door opened with a slam as a man ran out and vomited next to them. Sock yelped and both of them sprung back, away from one another as they looked at each other, their faces still flushed red. Another guy came out and patted his back gently. “dude, if you’re nervous, you should’ve told me you were feeling unwell!” Another guy came out with a cup of water and another with a concerned look on his face. Jon felt like he had seen them from somewhere before, possibly from another high school during a basketball tournament. He looks at them then to Sock. “let’s give them some space.” Jon says, and takes Sock’s arm and pulls him away to where their bikes are. “Jon, what about-”  
“We have everything here, we can just go.” Jon cuts him off sharply, and Sock shuts up, staring at him, confusion and thoughts still swimming in his head as they mounted their bikes and started cycling home, in complete silence.

**************


	3. Part 3 - Practise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone reeling from the Open Mic Night, how will the bang stick together in preparation for the possibility of a whole set list?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hewwo, it’s zozo, please refer to Part 1 for playlist information! Enjoy part 3!*

Daylight comes shining through curtains, lowering down through the room, past clothes strewn, ruffled bedcovers, and a heavy air and lands on Mephi’s face. He slowly opens his eyes, groaning. He takes a second while staring into space, and then looks around, as much as his splitting headache will allow him, to take in his surroundings. He slowly sits up and grabs his head as it throbs. “God…”   
He looks down at himself, then along the bed to see an empty space.   
“Owen?” Mephi croaks out, and Owen comes into the room, looking at him. “Oh, you’re awake.”   
“I.. uh.. this is your apartment.”   
“Yup.”   
“This is your bed.”   
“Yeah.”   
He looks down at himself, sitting in nothing but his boxer shorts.   
“Did… did we…?”   
“Earlier in the night, sure, but not when I dragged you back here after the concert, as much as you may of hoped to end the night on a higher note than what your band made.” Owen raised an eyebrow at him.   
Mephi smirked, but then remembered last night, the argument with Jon, telling Owen all about his insecurities. “God… that was a mess.” Mephi had a bad taste in his mouth and he scowls, getting up and going into the bathroom built into the apartment, spitting into the sink with a small groan, Owen passing him a toothbrush and he started brushing, hoping to get rid of the sick feeling in his stomach once he freshened up. “Yeah, that was a fun night, I even got to sing! But uh… after that.. it was…” He spits into the sink and thinks, then places the clean brush down and sighs, gripping the sink for a moment while looking in the mirror at himself before walking out to see Owen in the room, tidying up the room a little. “Owen, I am so sorry-”   
“Nope, I’m not hearing it.” Owen says, picking up a pile from the end of his bed and giving them to Mephi. “Fresh clothes. You puked on yours’.”   
“Oh.. so I did.” Mephi grimaced, feeling a bit humiliated. “I’m guessing you want me out in about an hour or something.” Mephi starts to help him pick things up around the room, putting them into the basket in the corner.   
Owen dumped some clothes into the basket, then looked at him for a while before speaking. “No.”   
Mephi stopped moving in the bed to get out and looks up at him. “What?”   
“Tell me why you think I’d throw you out.”   
“Well, I just assumed I was a good night which turned very sour and you want to forget about me and go to your boyfriend-”   
“- don’t have a boyfriend.”   
“You.. but that man last night?”   
“Was a friend, nothing more. We go together then head home together when we get no luck. And trust me… I’ve been  _ very  _ unlucky until recently.”   
“...Well,  _ someone better... _ as soon as possible, and forget about the bad night you had. Nothing good comes from me.”   
“That, Mephi, is where you are very very wrong.” Owen crossed the room to him and gently took his face in his hands, gently kissing him, Mephi responding in kind, his free hand gripping Owen’s hip gently, almost caressing. Owen pulled back and looked into his eyes. “ _ That’s _ what makes you worthwhile. Stop pretending you don’t care, you don’t need to do that around me. I’ll like you no matter how much of a mess you are.” Owen says with a grin. “I’ve waited long enough, seeing you around that club, and I knew you looked at me just as much, but you never did anything about it. I wondered why but then i started to understand, and it’s okay to not feel good enough, I’ve felt it  _ so  _ many times, but with me, you are amazing, messy.  _ Human _ . I want to help you.”   
“Owen…” Mephi says, tears building and falling. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” He repeats, again and again until his voice wears off and he just hugs him. Owen gently strokes his head. “It’s okay, it’s okay. I… Mephi, I don’t show many people this, but I want to show you this.” Owen pulls back and dabs at Mephi’s tears with a shirt in his hand playfully, grinning, making Mephi giggle slightly at him. He smiles and puts the shirt away, going to his cabinet, opening it and pulling a box from the shelf at the top. He sits down on the bed and invites Mephi to sit beside him. As Mephi does, Owen opens the box and brings out a picture of what looks like his family. “Mephi, this is me, my little brother, my mum and my dad.” He moves another photo out of the way and brings out a silver piece of metal. “This is what my dad got after being sober for over 5 years.” Owen says. Mephi stares at him and takes the piece of metal. “Wow… I’ve only ever gotten a year before…”   
“At least you’ve  _ tried _ , Mephi, that’s what’s important. My dad has a problem that affected his life, and he tried his best to keep it separated from his family. My childhood with him wasn’t the best, but it could’ve been far worse. He just sat in his room and cried once he came home. When Bradley came along, my dad had been sober a year, and it just kept going. My brother and my mother and I were all motivators for him. I spent a lot of time arguing with him before he died, and I feel so bad about that… I realised that if it was love that helped him overcome his biggest problems I should’ve continued to love him through his cancer too.” Owen looks down at the picture, and gently places it away, Mephi taking one last look at the metal piece before putting it back and and Owen closes the box, placing it back in the cabinet. “I have every intention of viewing you as a whole human being, and not just viewing you as your problems.” Owen says, and turns, looking at him. “So, on this note, would you like to be my boyfriend? Like, officially?”   
Mephi stammers. “I..uh..”   
“Just say yes, honey.”   
“Yes.” Mephi laughs a little, incredulous at the amazing man standing before him.   
“Okay, cool, now it feel a little less weird to tell you to move in here while you find your own place to stay. That way, I can keep an eye on you, okay?”   
“oh, uh, wow.” Mephi waited for that familiar panic to set in, where he outright refuses help, and feels the strong urge to run away, but then it doesn’t come. It never does, and he’s left feeling confused as he says “okay” slowly. He felt calm. I didn’t fully understand how it was even possible.   
“Great. I’m making ramen tonight. Hope you like Japanese food.” Owen winks and leaves the room, going to the kitchen.   
Mephi sits back and takes in his situation at present.  _ Am I dreaming? _ , he wondered, and started to change with a small smile on his face.   
“Oh, and by the way, in case you didn’t figure it out, I was unlucky at the club because you didn’t talk to me. I went in hopes that you would, wasn’t interested in anyone else. Okay, good talk.” Owen says from the kitchen.   
Mephi pauses, then laughs at him, shaking his head and tidying up the bed.   
  
**************   
  
Sel opened her door, and almost went to call for her brother, when she suddenly remembered that he wasn’t even home. No one was, not her mother, not her mother’s boyfriend either. No one. She walks to the kitchen and opens the cabinet, taking the second last thing in there out, a chocolate flapjack. She looks around the bare cabinets and starts to panic slightly. There definitely wasn’t enough food to last the week her family are off on holiday. How they even found the money  _ to _ go on holiday she had no idea. She sighs and takes a bite of the flapjack, then almost chokes when she sees the time. “Oh  _ crap _ -” She runs into her room and grabs her clothes, slipping them on quickly, while looking at herself in the mirror, trying to figure out what she can do to look as presentable as possible. She runs a brush through her hair, ties it up then takes one last look in the mirror before sighing slightly and running out the door, flapjack and keys in hand, a bag hanging loosely over her shoulder.   
She found herself smiling, running down the stairs of her apartment block, excited to meet Jojo.   
  


*************   
  


“Sock, you ready?” Lil says, kneeling down with her hand holding the garbage bag.   
“Geez… as ready as I’m gonna be.” Sock says, his face laced with anxiety. As usual he felt tired, the week passing by so quickly, it was thursday already. It only felt like yesterday the open mic night had happened. Since the weekend the mic night happened, the school has been talking about all kinds of bands, but he seemed to hear whispers about his own so much more than he heard about other bands. Whether or not they were going through to the concert soon, however, wasn’t known yet, but they had a practise tomorrow night. ‘Continue as normal’, Jon had said to them. But it’s hard to do so when your plans, your life, hung in the balance so delicately. This band was beginning to feel more important to him than he expected.   
Despite being a little lost in thought, Lil nods and lifts the bag and suddenly a dark figure rushes out, making Lil scream and jump around, running away. Sock exclaims, shock overruling him and he pushes the plastic box down onto the ground fast, sighing loudly with relief. “I got him.”   
Lil shudders and turns around, looking down into the box. A mouse sat, looking up at them curiously, scuttling around in the box. “Is it a mouse? I thought it was a rat…” Lil trails off. “He’s actually kinda cute… when, ya know, he isn’t running around right outside our cafe.” Sock looks up at her, confused and slightly incredulous. Lil notices his face and double takes back to him. “What? He  _ is  _ cute, don’t you think?”   
“Well, do you wanna keep him or something? After all that time you’ve spent screaming at him?”   
Lil looks away. “I dunno, leave me to think about it.”   
“Lil, we’re standing outside the cafe when we’re supposed to be doing our jobs-”   
The door opens and Mephi peeks out from behind the door. “Guys. What are you doing. We have customers.” The bags under his eyes noticeable, and his hair slightly disheveled, he steps out and closes the door gently. “what on earth… a mouse?” He crouches down and smiles lightly at them. “Would ya look at that.”   
“Dude, your hair, wait- hold still- let me fix it.” Lil says with a roll of her eyes, and reties Mephi’s hair for him. “Your hair’s surprisingly thick, jeez… wait.” Lil takes a hair tie from her own hair, and uses it on his hair instead. “You not got any decent ties at home? This one is almost broken…” She takes the old tie in her hand and passes it to him. Mephi stands and throws it into the dumpster.   
“Ah…” Sock says, unsure, looking to Mephi to see how he could explain his way out of this, surprised at his response. “Yeah, I’ve been stocking up on essentials now that I’m moved in with my boyfriend, I haven’t entirely gotten to all of my hair products , I must admit…”   
Sock’s eyebrows raise as Lil smiles. “Wait, is that who Owen was talking about this morning?”   
“You know Owen.”   
“Oh man, we’ve been friends for  _ years _ ! He lands me the merch selling gig at Blue Bay  _ occasionally _ , which is why you looked familiar to me.” Lil nudges Mephi and he smirks.   
“Why just occasionally?” Mephi asks.   
“Oh, I’ve got limited time with my parent’s schedule with me, it’s school, then work and sometimes I’m allowed out to party, but if they knew I was going to Blue Bay, jeez…”   
“Speaking of work!” Mephi runs a hand across his hair, admiring Lil’s handiwork. “We have work we need to do, c’mon!”    
“Oh crap, yeah. What about the mouse?”   
“I’ll take him!” Mephi says. “Owen’s mom is a vet, see what she says about it.”   
“Wow, met the mom and everything!” Lil says, teasing him, before going into the building  with a wave to the mouse then to them.   
“He’s cute!” Mephi says, helping Sock get the lid onto the box, opening the airway flap on top.   
“Yeah he is…” Sock smiles, gently holding the box in his hands.. “So, uh, Owen? You’ve moved in with him?”   
Mephi looks from the mouse in the box to him. “Hm? Oh, right, yeah I have.” He laughs a little. “I know it’s so soon… but… I’m hopeful. Honestly Sock, don’t worry about me, I’m fine. Worry about school breaking off and balancing that school work with band practise.”   
“Right, okay.” Sock looks at Mephi’s dark circles under his eyes. “Just… please make sure you’re doing okay.”   
“Woah, what’s this? Sock being leaderlike? I thought I was the manager.” Mephi smiles and gives him a wink. Sock takes a moment but smiles back, chuckling. “Some manager you are.” He jokes as he heads into the building, towards the staff room, mouse in tow. As Mephi retaliates, his spirits about Mephi lighten a little. He still feels a hint of worry, but that’s surrounded by the belief, a hopeful belief maybe, that Mephi is going to be okay.   
  
**************   
  
Mephi holds the box in his lap as he sits and takes in the scenery from the bus home from work, when the bus stops, and lets on a familiar face. He looks away immediately, remembering his actions at the concert. Prov steps aboard, and begins to walk along the bus towards the back, her favourite place to sit. Ironically enough, his favourite place to sit too. He notices the footsteps stop, and he looks up, her standing there, directly in front of his seat. “Mephi. Ironic, I was just thinking about you.”   
“O-oh.” Mephi says, confused, and Prov sits in the seat in front of him, turning around, her back flush against the wall of the bus, turning to her side a little to see him.   
“You’re, uh, holding a mouse.” She mentions and Mephi looks down at the mouse, which sniffs the side of the box closest to Prov curiously.   
“Ah, yeah… yeah I am.” A small, extremely awkward pause passes. “I got him from work. He was outside, sniffing around for food. I’m sure I’ll get him more than enough back at mine.”   
“Yours’?” Prov asks. “You have somewhere to live now?” Her face seems to perk up a little, but Mephi wasn’t sure whether that was the case, or his eyes were deceiving him. There was no way, he believed, that Prov could possibly care about whether or not he’s got a roof over his head.   
“Yeah, I, uh… I moved in with… with my boyfriend.” He says and Prov takes a moment, her eyebrow slightly twitching up in surprise and she then nods, saying “Really? Who’s the boyfriend?”   
“Oh, it’s someone you wouldn’t know, his name is Owen. He’s from the club.”   
“Right…” She looks a bit unsure.   
“No, really, he isn’t like the other regulars. He’s nice and sweet and understanding. Prov, he’s helping me with… with my issues.”   
“Oh.” Prov this time definitely raises her eyebrows in surprise. “That’s… that’s great! Really, I mean it. I just hope… it works out this time.”   
Mephi remembers back to when they were together, her attempts to sober him under strict rotas and plans falling flat again and again. Why he felt the need to defy her when he did, he’ll never fully understand. But he knew Owen was different, and he knew he didn’t feel the need to escape this time around.   
“Look, Prov. I’m really sorry for how our past and, and the concert last weekend worked out. Really. I fucked up. I got stressed, and told no one, and got into some really bad habits.”   
“Mephi, honestly, you’ve been doing decent from what I’d seen and heard around, but last weekend was  _ bad _ . I haven’t seen you that bad since…”   
“Since our very public breakup. Since that time I screamed down the school and got expelled on the spot. Since the day I made you… despise me.” Mephi goes quiet. Prov finds herself unable to respond.   
“Mephi, I don’t despise you. I’m worried about you, don’t get me wrong, but… and I’m sorry for this, but I’m finding it hard to let go of what you’ve done to me and to yourself over the years, especially since the incident at the concert, it just.. felt like a wound that was healing being ripped open, honestly.”   
“I completely understand.” Mephi feels a pit in his stomach. Even now, his gut is telling him to get mad, to get up and throw things around, to drink. But he bites it all down and ignores it instead, turning the anger in on himself, like how he believes it should be. He felt something at his throat and ignored it, blinking away any start of tears he could.  _ I’m not going to do this, _ he thought,  _ not right now, not on this bus. Not in front of her. I need to prove to her that I’m strong. _ _   
_ “My stop is soon.” He says simply, and Prov looks up and looks around.    
“Wow, this boyfriend of yours must be in a nice area.”   
“I’m sure yours’ is too.” He smirks.   
She scoffs and shakes her head. “I do not have time for that anymore.”   
“Well, I at least hope you had someone nice after me.”   
She smiles a little, and he rings the bell, standing up.   
“Well, at least we ended the conversation with a good old self-deprecating joke.” Mephi says and starts to walk. As he passes by, she says to him: “I’m glad we had a conversation.”   
He stops and turns to her, his emotions getting close to being overwhelming.  _ She was always so nice, and I was not. Why did I do this to her? _ “Me too.” He says, unsure if he was lying or telling the truth. He nods a goodbye and walks off the bus, towards the apartment. He hears the bus driving away, knowing she’s on there, knowing she’s probably looking at him, knowing she’s probably thinking about him and thinking about what he has done to her. He grits his teeth and swallows forcibly, as though he can swallow his emotions, he digs around in his pocket for his key and presses the piece of black plastic against the reader, the apartment complex door opening with a soft popping noise. Hearing his own footsteps echoing as he heads up to Owen’s flat, his thoughts spiraled as much as the staircase below him, and by the point he reaches the door, his shaking hands pushing the key into the lock and opening it, he’s overwhelmed by his own mind, his tears spilling over as he heads to the table to hurriedly put down the box. As soon as he does, he whines a little and buries his head in his hands, crouching down until he reached the floor. His back against the wall, his legs up and his arms curling around as his head gently laid down onto his knees. “God…” He mutters, wiping at his face.    
“Mephi, is that you, are you home?” Owen said aloud, walking into the room Mephi was in and seeing him, immediately at his side. “What’s wrong?” Owen’s hand to Mephi’s back, petting him gently.   
“Owen, she was on the bus.”   
“Who? Providence?”   
“Yes.”   
“Well, what, what happened? Did she say nasty things to you?”   
“No, Owen, that’s not it, we had a decent conversation. Nice… civil.”   
“Okay, so…? What was wrong?”   
“It’s just I’ve been anything  _ but  _ with her. I’ve fucked up and hurt her, and made her get so worked up as to say nasty things to me. And compared to how much I said to get she barely said a word… I said… so.  _ much. shit. _ ” Mephi’s voice breaks a little as he cries. “I’m just  _ fed up _ .”   
“Mephi, honey, look at me. We  _ all  _ make mistakes, we all fuck up.”   
“This is a  _ huge  _ fuck up, Owen. A  _ huge  _ one.”   
“It may feel like that, yeah, but once you get older, and you grow up a little more, you begin to realise how it could’ve went  _ far  _ worse, and you begin to realise that time is a very important healer. So, please believe me when I say, that as long as you put in the work, remain hopeful and have important friends by your side like your handsome boyfriend and that cool band of yours, because I like them, then time will pass and you will be more and more okay. More things will come into your life, more opportunities, please take them, okay? For me?”   
Mephi sniffles and looks up at him, Owen taking the opportunity to wipe away a tear and place a kiss on his forehead. Mephi closes his eyes as he does so, and whispers “okay.”   
“Good. I’m glad you can see the wisdom from Old Man Owen.”   
Mephi looks to him and chuckles. “Dude, you’re not that much older than me.”   
“Hey, you’re 18 and I’m 21, I’m practically ancient.” Owen scoffs.   
“ _ Actually,  _ I’m almost 19. Like, a month away.”   
“Okay, Mr. Big Britches.”   
“You’re stupid.”   
“You’re silly. For worrying so much. And in general.”   
Mephi smirks and chuckles lightly, and cuddles into Owen gently. “Is it too soon to say I love you?”   
“Funny, I’ve been thinking the same thing lately too.”   
They look to each other, then start to near closer when suddenly Mephi’s phone goes off and he jumps with surprise, rummaging in his pocket and yanking it out. “Jojo’s calling me.”   
“Answer.” Owen says, flushing red slightly.   
Mephi, knowing he himself was probably blushing too, opens the phone and places it to his ear. “Hello?”   
“Hiya Mephi, I was asked to tell you a load of things so i thought it’d better to call instead of-” halfway through her sentence muffles in his ear as Owen pushes forward and kisses him gently. Mephi’s eyes flutter shut in response but then he pulls away and pushes at Owen playfully, quickly attempting to catch up in the conversation. “Yeah, yeah, sure thing, shoot.”   
“Sweet, okay, so Thing One. Sock told me that he’s been making notes of how to look after a mouse if you want them-” Again, her words still loud and clear but tough to notice when owen slides off Mephi’s Suit jacket, Mephi juggling the phone between his hands, staring at Owen incredulously. Owen slides his own hoodie off and stares at Mephi with an expression that churned his insides. He stares at Owen, transfixed. He mutters a small “uh-huh” at Jojo, making sure she didn’t feel lost with him in the conversation. “Right.” Jojo says in reply. “Thing Two. Jon said there’s band practise tomorrow after school, he said you’re supposed to do the following to prepare… wait, one sec, I need to get the note he wrote, he’s such a control freak sometimes…” “Right.” Mephi replies, as Owen traces his hands down Mephi’s shirt, unbuttoning it. Staring wide-eyed, Mephi swallows a little. “right found the bit paper. Jeez, okay, here goes...” “O-okay.” Jojo pauses for a second and Mephi bites his lip, worried. Jojo then sneezes and Mephi looks away from Owen and the phone, breathing out in relief. She begins to start reading the note and amidst Mephi’s focus on Jon’s list he doesn’t realise Owen’s work until owen pulls and Mephi’s belt comes off, making him breath out with a “ _ oh Lord _ -”   
“What’s up, have I read too fast?” Jojo stops.   
“ _ No, no,  _ I’m… I’m all good.” Mephi blushes and keeps Owen away with an arm while Jojo finishes off the list.   
“Right okay, Thing Three.”   
Mephi blushes as Owen kisses at his neck but then he pushes Owen away with slightly more force, his face shocked and serious. Owen stops, and tilts his head in questioning, the answer coming from Mephi repeating. “Prov is giving me her number? Why?”   
“She feels ready. Also, she wants to make sure you’re going to be okay. So maybe keep her up to date with your being sober n’ all.”   
“Oh… That’s… that’s cool. Thanks…”   
“I’ll message the details, see ya.” She hangs up.   
He puts the phone down and stares at Owen. “Huh.”   
“There’s an opportunity. Take it.” Owen says, and gives him a kiss on the forehead before getting up and walking away.   
“I, yeah, I will… wait.” He looks down at himself, his clothes hanging off of him. “Owen? what-”   
“I’m walking to the bedroom.” Owen replies.   
“Oh.  _ Oh. _ ” Mephi gets up and runs after him.   
  
**************   
  
As the school bell for lunch break rings, signifying the end of it, everyone seems to get up with a groan from Jojo’s table.    
“I don’t know why I’m still here.” Michael said. “I have better things than to sit around and do nothing.”   
“What about exams?” Rosie says, making them all laugh, sitting beside Jojo and handing her bag to her when she stood up.   
“Hm I guess I should do the  _ one _ exam I’m allowed to still take, right?” Michael says and the gang laugh, Jojo shows a faint smile.   
“Jojo, what are you up to tomorrow morning?”   
She thinks about Sel and her plans to hang out with her at the mall. “I, uhm, I’m busy. Studying.”   
“Oh look at you, being all good at school all of a sudden. What’s gotten into you?” Peter asks, his now-girlfriend Melissa and his best friend Georgie smirking.   
“I dunno, existentialism?”   
“Urgh, if anything that’d make me unwilling to come here.” Michael rolls his eyes.   
“Good luck for your exams anyway, Jojo.” Rosie says, smiling.   
“Thanks, Rosie.” Jojo says and pulls away from the table, starting to walk ahead of them. She hears giggling, then Sel’s name joins their conversation and Jojo listens in.   
“Guys, so I was talking with Becka, and she set up a little surprise for Sel in P.E  _ right now _ .”   
“No way. What is it?”   
“Some flour. Simple, easy. How much she sweats will affect how much sticks to her.”   
“Well then the whole bag will get stuck right on.” Michael says and Melissa howls with laughter.   
“This is  _ crazy _ , Becka’s  _ crazy _ -”   
Jojo’s blood runs cold and mid-sentence she starts to walk quickly ahead of them to P.E, pushing past everyone quickly, ignoring her supposed friend’s calls for her to come back.  _ this can’t be happening _ , she repeats in her head, cursing her fellow students for being so immature. She pushes the girl’s changing room door open and she hears laughter escaping from the lockers there, she runs to Sel’s.   
Sel, standing still, looking down at her arms in shock, covered in flour.   
“Oh my god!!” Melissa yelps as she enters the locker room, Rosie following after with a smirk. Jojo’s face falls and she goes over to Sel. “Do you have spare clothes-” She begins to mutter but Sel pulls away, past them, to the corridor, and Jojo’s eyes close in pain as she hears everyone in the corridor laugh at her. Her eyes open to see Sel’s locker empty and she closes it slowly. She notices Sel’s bag on the floor, covered in white.   
“Geez, what did you say to her, Jojo? She looks so upset!” melissa taunts, then everyone goes silent when Jojo picks up Sel’s bag.   
“What are you doing, Jojo?” Rosie asks, confused.   
“You gonna hide her bag, Jojo? Good idea.” Melissa goes towards Jojo, but then Jojo pushes her away, her head down. Melissa looks at her, confused.    
Jojo raises her head, anger filling her expression as she hisses out a clear “choke on a dick, you bitch…” and pushes past Melissa, towards the door.   
She opens the door just as she hears Michael say to Sel “that’s how your dad went out, right? Covered in white? Like father, like daughter, amirite?”   
“God, Michael, you’re savage.” Peter laughs.   
“How did you find that out…” Sel whispers.   
“Things go round very well in this school, hun. Lots of things about  _ you _ .” Michael smirks.   
Jojo turns to Peter. “Could you maybe come over here, Peter?”   
“Uh, sure.” Peter walks to the other side, away from Michael. “Wait, why do you have Sel’s ba-”   
“For once, shut the fuck up, Michael!” Jojo shouts and punches him, hard. Michael stumbles and everyone around them yells out. Amidst the commotion, Jojo grabs Sel’s wrist to guide her away, but Sel yanks her hand away, their eyes meeting and Jojo gasps slightly when Sel looks at her with hurt. “You were part of this.” Sel says, and runs away, everyone jumping away from her in fear of getting flour on her.   
“You fucking bitch…” Michael mutters and grabs Jojo’s hair, Jojo screaming out. “ _ Fight!!!”  _ The crowd starts screaming. Jojo sees Peter grimace and grabs Melissa just as she heads out the door, screaming Michael on as she’s guided away. Rosie jumps out of the door and immediately goes for both of them, trying to seperate them. Michael, in the midst of grappling with Jojo, elbows Rosie in the face and she falls back. Jojo gasps out an “oh my God”, and expects everything to stop once Michael realises Rosie’s been hurt. However, Michael doesn’t stop, and simply tells Rosie to stay out of his way. Jojo grits her teeth in anger. “Is there no end to how much of a cunt you are?!” Jojo pulls back, screaming out as her hair is partially pulled, some she could tell pulled completely out, and she pushes him back, then slaps across his face, her nails doing considerable damage. Michael yells out, his hand going to his face with loud yelps. Jojo goes to Rosie, attempting to help her up, but Rosie pushes her back. “Get away.” She says. Jojo sighs, mutters a “fine”, and starts to run away, after Sel. She catches up to where Sel is hiding and Sel yells at her to keep away and continues to run, past more students. The door to the Student Guidance Office opens and Prov steps out, spots Sel and yells over to her. “Sel, honey, Jesus, come in here.” Prov rushes her in and closes the door behind her. The hubbub of activity from the event caused a crowd to follow Jojo and they found their way to her, Michael following behind. Just before Michael got close enough to attempt to fight again, Prov’s voice thundered out, almost inhuman, god-like, in it’s ability to carry, strong with anger.   
“ _ STOP. EVERYBODY STOP AND KEEP QUIET _ .” Silence miraculously falls over the crowd. “If  _ anyone  _ knows  _ anything  _ about this, they better come into my office with me  _ right now _ and tell me what the hell is going on.”   
The crowd begins to dissipate, Michael and Rosie keeping their distance. Jojo looks back to them, her eyes pleading with her best friend Rosie, to be on her side, just this once. Rosie scowls, and she turns and comforts Michael when he starts to cry, holding the scratched side of his face. Jojo clenches her fist, frustration and heartbreak over a friendship spanning over a decade being tarnished, and turns back to Prov, a fake smile on her face, fixing her hair. “Yeah, Prov, I’ll come with you. It’ll give me the chance to talk to you about how Mephi’s doing.”   
“Sure. Let’s go.”   
Seeing Rosie’s hurt expression, Michael seething towards her direction, she enters the room, seeing Sel crying in the corner, and sits down with Prov and begins to explain.   
  
*************   
  
Sock and Jon waited in the band room patiently, setting up everyone’s instruments while they waited.   
“Jon why set up everything so seriously when we’re just meeting up to  _ plan out  _ the next 2 weeks of practise.”   
“I don’t know., I’m just setting up, just incase.”   
Sock walks over to Jon, saying his name silently. “We haven’t heard back from that guy at Blue Bay, maybe it’s best to take it easy today and see what he says. Today’s the last day he was supposed to get in contact with us-” he lays a hand on Jon’s shoulder and he shrugs it away, walking away from Sock, making him sigh with a hint of frustration. “Jon, can’t we talk??”   
“Talk? About what?”   
“About… that night. We’ve been going around our house  _ avoiding  _ one another. Do you know how  _ difficult  _ that is? Our place is  _ tiny _ ! I can’t keep this up forever-”   
Jon turns to him. “Don’t worry, Sock. It won’t be forever.”   
Sock sighs with relief and sits at the drum set, looking over to him. “Finally, some communication.. How long will it be?”   
Jon looks over to him, the sunset shining in the last parts of light for the day, casting over Sock’s pleading eyes. “I… I just need time to think.”   
“Jon, you  _ overthink. _ ”   
“Then I need time to  _ overthink _ , Sock!!” Jon says, snapping at him slightly.   
Sock looks away and blushes. “I don’t even know what I want from you, or what I’m waiting  _ for. _ ”   
“Maybe you need more time to think too, then.”   
“I-”   
The large window in the classroom opens with a bang, making Sock jump in his seat, and a long, thin leg slips into the room followed by the rest of Mephi’s body. He pauses to compose himself. “Oh thank god this is the right room…”   
Jojo walks in, her face slightly downtrodden, however it lifts as she enters the room. “Hi guys!”    
“Oh hi, Mephi, hi Jojo, how goes things?” Jon asks immediately, Sock knowing he’s taking this chance to move on their their discussion. Sock rolls his eyes.   
“It’s going alright for me, being feeling good since the concert. I, uhm, I’m actually really sorry for that…”   
“Don’t sweat it man, as long as you’re working on getting better, I’m good with you.” Jon replies, patting his shoulder.   
Mephi smiles at Jon.   
“Well… I lost all my friends…” Jojo started. “But They were all assholes anyway, so I saved myself?”   
“Right…” Jon says, unsure. “Sorry about that.”   
“I’ll get over it. I think”   
“Gather round people, let me tell you the plan.” Jon sits and so does everyone else, keeping near him. “Right, so over the next two weeks, we are going to come here and practise every night if possible-”   
“ _ every night?? _ Jon, we…” Sock trails off.   
“You haven’t heard from David from Blue Bay?” Mephi asks.   
“No. We haven’t.”   
“Urgh, one sec.” Mephi pulls out his phone and begins to text.   
“Yes, we haven’t gotten word back yet, but let’s just keep hopeful that we got a place-”   
“Yeah we got a place.” Mephi says as he looks up from his phone. Jon pauses and slowly looks around to him, confusion on his face, which quickly turns to pleasant surprise.   
“Yeah, David isn’t very good at writing down numbers. Sorry bout that.” Mephi smiles at them.   
“Wait… what just happened?” Sock’s eyes widen. “We’re… we’re doing the show?  _ We’re doing the show!! _ ” Sock yelps and him and Jojo stand up and whoop, high-fiving one another, then hissing and looking down at their hands. Jon’s eyes squint slightly, as though doing so would help him see through how stupid they could be sometimes. Mephi laughs.   
“Dudes, we gotta celebrate! We should go out, right now-”   
“Oh, no no no…” Jon says, standing. “Now that we know we’re doing the show, this is so much more reason to  _ practise _ -”   
“Jon, we’ve had some good news, and we need a break. You can tell us your plan,  _ while  _ we go out for  __ one night . I swear, we will practise other nights!” Sock says while taking Jon’s shoulder in his hand. Jon doesn’t shrug it away, as per usual, and Sock smiles and hugs him. “I’m so excited for this!”   
Jon takes a moment, then sighs and lays his head on Sock’s shoulder. “Me too, Sock. Me too.” Jon pulls away suddenly however, blushing. Albeit it being a short while, Sock smiles and accepts it.   
Jojo appears to be deep in thought after finishing texting someone on her phone, and she suddenly stands. “I need something of you guys.”


	4. Part 4 - Concert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time of the concert is here! Prepare for an action-packed, rocking finale!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *hewwo, it’s zozo, please refer to Part 1 for playlist information! Enjoy part 4, the final part!!*

Jojo crept through the dimly lit apartment block, the single light on the floor of Sel’s apartment flickering. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t at least slightly freaked out, but she needed to do this. She crouched down at the door, putting down the box which contained clothes, some cash and a handwritten letter. She stands, looking down at it, then to the door, wishing she could knock and have Sel open it and be smiling at her again. But she feared nothing she could do could fix this. She hoped that maybe the letter could help Sel understand.   
She knocks the door, then runs away, hurriedly down the stairs and round the apartment block to the car parked away from the building. She got in, and the members of her band turned around the stared at her as Owen pulled the handbrake and stared to drive away.   
“So, uhm… thanks guys.” Jojo says quietly. she could see Owen smile in the driver’s mirror and Sock reached over and hugged her. Usually she’d feel uncomfortable, but right now, she felt she needed it, wrapping her arms around his arm. She sighs. “I really hope I see her around.”   
“I’m glad you’ve figured so many things out, Jojo.” Owen says from the front. “I know you and I don’t know each other very well, but I thought I’d say that…”   
“I agree with Owen.” Mephi nods. “It takes a lot of balls to look yourself in the mirror and admit your flaws. I know that things might not fix, but have pride that at least you’ve pulled yourself out of something that many don’t leave.”   
“I’m just glad you’re not a bully.” Sock says.   
“Not anymore.” Jojo looks up at the lights illuminating the dark night of the streets. “Never again.”   
“Well, hometime everyone.” Owen says, indicating to move towards Sock and Jon’s home. “Y'all are going first.”   
“Awhh, boring. Why?” Sock says.   
“Because as we speak, both of your bicycles are tied to the roof of my car and I don’t know how long it’s gonna hold.”   
They hear a bump from the roof and Jon grimaces.   
“Yeah….” Sock mutters.   
“Probably for the best…” Jon trails off.   
  
*******************   
  
As they hear the window bang open and Mephi fall in, they turn and look at him. Mephi looks up from his faceplant. “Oh. Hi guys. I’m… I’m good.” He stands up, stretching it off.   
“You’re still clumsy even when you’re not drunk.” Jojo jokes, and he laughs as he walks over and ruffling her hair. She sticks her tongue out at him.   
“ _ Hey _ \- I’ve been sober for, like, 2 and a half weeks. And I mean, before that, I hadn’t drunk in, uh…”   
“Two and a half weeks-” Jojo cuts in.   
“I regret sharing Messenger details with you. And all those late night conversations. But, honestly,  _ I swear to you guys _ \- I will be fine. I’m determined, okay! Music has taken over my lifestyle to be honest…” Mephi walks over to the kit, takes the sticks and twirls them.   
“ _ Y'all _ -” Sock pulls something from the cupboard in the room, a keyboard with effects pads. “ _ What _ \- When did the music department get  _ this? _ ”   
“Oh. That was my friend.” Mephi says. “He snuck in here one night a few days ago and shoved that and a laptop in there. Ya know, just in case we wanted to do anything more electronic. It’s his favourite music genre, so he’s biased, but if it gets us another instrument, sure thing!”   
Sock pulls out the laptop and stares at Mephi incredulously. “You’re shitting me.” He simply says and Mephi bursts out laughing.   
While Sock plugs the laptop into the keyboard and sets to work on some presets for the keyboard, Jojo walks in with Prov. Mephi’s eyebrows raise.   
“What are you guys doing?” Prov peeks into the room, and then her face turns to a small, unsure smile as she spots Mephi at the drums. Mephi makes eye contact with her and returns with a smile, not sure if what he felt was still bitterness after everything or shame, or resolution. He was sure they had both moved on, or at least started to, but her hesitation to respond unsettled him. However, she was responding just fine when he gave her an update every few days on how he was doing. He just wanted beyond this for once.   
Jon turns and looks to her. “Wanna jam?”   
“Wh-what?”   
“C’mon, play with us? Can you play any instruments? Sing?”   
“I… uh…”   
“She sings. Very well.” Mephi says clearly, and she turns and they lock eyes, the shock as clear as his certainty. He nods towards the mic stand, inviting her to sing. She looks at him for a second longer before looking back. “First I hide a fugitive from the school and now I’m performing with them…? I guess I have nothing to lose.”   
“We were actually jamming something more mainstream lately, but Sock struggles with playing the keyboard and singing at the same time. He’s just fine with everything else but that keyboard gets him somehow... “   
“Look, ‘Flames’ is really tough to play on a keyboard AND on an effects panel at the SAME TIME AS SINGING. Gimme a break.” Sock groans, and Jon grins at him.   
“Flames… as in the Sia song?” Prov asks, a smile poking at her mouth. Mephi smiles at her enthusiasm.   
“Yes! Do you know it?”   
“Yeah!”   
“Wanna sing it?” Jon looks to the mic and back to her, lifting his eyebrows a little.   
She pauses, thinks, then nods.   
  
The music starts, Sock and jon setting the bassline and foundation to the song together, looking at each other as they played, Mephi starting up a beat almost absentmindedly, looking at Prov as she stepped forward and took the mic.   
  
**_(Author’s Note:_ ** [ **_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_bXyUbYMBw &list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=16&t=0s_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_bXyUbYMBw&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8&index=16&t=0s) **_)_ **

 

**_One foot in front of the other, babe_ **

**_One breath leads to another, yeah_ **

**_Just keep moving_ **

**_Look within for the strength today_ **

**_Listen now for the voice to say_ **

**_Just keep moving_ **

 

**_Go, go, go, figure it out_ **

**_Figure it out, but don't stop moving_ **

**_Go, go, go, figure it out_ **

**_Figure it out, you can do this_ **

 

**_So my love, keep on running_ **

**_You gotta get through today_ **

**_There my love, keep on running_ **

**_Gotta keep those tears at bay_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Jon picks his bass line in more ernest, giving the chorus ten times more depth than before, Jojo and Jon jamming together as Sock nodded his head along with the song, hitting the keys and effects panels in precision. Had he secretly been playing this song to himself on school keyboards? Maybe. **_  
  
_ **

**_Oh my love, don't stop burning_ **

**_Gotta send them up in flames_ **

**_In flames_ **

**_  
_ ** Prov turns and looks to Mephi as she sings, making a chill go down his spine. She was definitely telling him something, so he knew to listen closely.   
  
  


**_Don't stop, tomorrow's another day_ **

**_Don't stop, tomorrow you'll feel no pain_ **

**_Just keep moving_ **

**_Don't stop, the past will trip you up_ **

**_You know, right now's never be enough_ **

**_Just keep moving_ **

 

**_Go, go, go, figure it out_ **

**_Figure it out, but don't stop moving_ **

**_Go, go, go, figure it out_ **

**_Figure it out, you can do this_ **

 

**_So my love, keep on running_ **

**_You gotta get through today_ **

**_There my love, keep on running_ **

**_Gotta keep those tears at bay_ **

**_Oh my love, don't stop burning_ **

**_Gotta send them up in flames_ **

**_In flames_ **

**_In flames..._ **

**_In flames..._ ** **_  
  
_ **

Tenderly almost, she turns back and starts singing the rest of the song, Mephi’s eyes glued to her.   
  


**_Go, go, go, figure it out_ **

**_Figure it out, but don't stop moving_ **

**_Go, go, go, figure it out_ **

**_Figure it out, you can do this_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Mephi picks himself up a little and starts playing the final chorus enthusiastically, emotionally almost. Jon and Sock are entranced with each other as they played the bassline together, the atmosphere in the room deathly serious, something hitting the pits of all of their stomachs, something pulling at their emotions.

 

**_So my love, keep on running_ **

**_You gotta get through today_ **

**_There my love, keep on running_ **

**_Gotta keep those tears at bay_ **

**_Oh my love, don't stop burning_ **

**_Gotta send them up in flames_ **

**_In flames…_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** The song ends, and everyone takes a moment to take it in. Sock and Jon’s eye contact doesn’t waver for a long time, as though both were searching for something in the other. Sock then quickly looks away, and Jon follows suit.    
_ What… was that?  _ Both seem to wonder at the same time.   
“That. sounded.  _ Great _ .” Jojo starts, taking the guitar off her and running over to something at the front of the room, picking it up and pressing a button on it, the device beeping as she put it down. “Oh, I recorded the audio, I hope that’s okay.”   
“You should really ask permission  _ before _ recording it.” Prov starts and everyone looks at her, and immediately she realised she was now going to be on whatever CD they produce later on.   
She looks to them and chuckles. “I don’t mind however. Just keep that in mind.”   
Jojo grins and hugs Prov. “You sounded so good!”   
“Yeah, well- oh  _ shoot- _ ” Prov spotted the clock in the room and grabbed her jacket, shoving it on before grabbing her bag, all the while explaining that she had some class somewhere 10 minutes away and she was running horrendously late.   
“It’s okay, Prov.” Mephi says, cutting through the noise in the room. Something about it catches Prov as she was nearing the door, and before leaving, she turns, looks to him, and smiles, him smiling back. She leaves.   
Silence descends upon the room, until Sock pipes up.   
“You sorted out your history now?”   
“ _ Sock- _ ” Jon begins to scold.   
“Yup. We’re fine now.” Mephi smiles and hands the sticks back to Sock. “C’mon, time for me to get some time in singing.”   
  
**************************   
  
Sock and Jon sit and make notes on a practise they had recorded. Sock looks to Jon and notices anxiety seeping into his face. “Dude. Chill.”   
“Sock, the concert is in two days. What if something happens??”   
Sock reaches over and hugs him, surprised when Jon accepts it for longer than 20 seconds. “Seriously, don’t worry. Everything is going so good, you’ve seen how hard everyone is worked, and you  _ know  _ how hard everyone’s working. Maybe you’re just tired and need a good night’s sleep.”   
“But… I shouldn’t sleep now. We were… we were gonna sort out a present for Mephi, for doing so well on his self-control, and we were gonna help Jojo out-”   
Sock helps Jon up and guides him to his bed in the next room. “Jon… relax. Go to sleep. I’ve already sorted all of that out. I’m texting Mephi and Jojo about the other’s plans tonight. We’ll get everything sorted.” Jon slowly climbs into bed, and his exhaustion hits him immediately. He starts to get more comfortable, gripping at his shirt and jeans and sliding them off. Sock, used to it by now, goes to grab some hot chocolate pre-made in a flask in their kitchen, and pours a little into a mug for Jon. He remembers fondly the day he gave Jon this mug, Jon giving him one in return as a housewarming gift, and laughing with one another at how stupid it was as they both headed to the cupboard together to put their new mugs away. Sock slowly walks to Jon’s room, saying his name gently. “Jon… i’ve got coco, you still… awake….” Sock trails off as he sees Jon’s boxers on the small portion of floor he could see through the mostly closed door. Sock blushes lightly, used to seeing Jon in at  _ least  _ his boxers, but  _ without them _ ? Sock slowly reaches for the door and opens it, not knowing what he was going to see on the other side. A quick glimpse of Jon standing there in all of his… glory… flashed across Sock’s thoughts, but they were quickly batted away as he opened the door and saw Jon’s ass hanging out the bed as he snored loudly. Sock takes a moment, then closes his eyes and takes a breath. “Jon. Your ass is hanging out the bed.” Jon mumbles, sounding adorably pissed off for being woken up a little, and pulls the covers around him to the best of his ability. Sock rolls his eyes, and places the cup down on his bedside table. He almost turns to leave, when Jon turns in his bed and moans in his sleep lightly. Sock makes a noise at how adorable he finds it, then battles with himself for a second, before reaching down and placing a kiss on his forehead. Jon groans in reply, and Sock grins and quickly turns to leave the room, closing the door quietly before returning to take notes on the performance, ready to relay it to the band during tomorrow’s morning practise.   
Jon stirs, and opens his eyes slightly, still feeling the kiss on his forehead. Jon thinks for a second, about things. Things he had been thinking about a lot lately, then smiles lightly before falling back asleep again.    
He knew, when tonight was going to be the night, that Sock was going to be by his side to ease his anxiety.   
  
*******************

  
Prov sits around nervously as she waits. She wanted to speak to him, understand what was being done, what was being done  _ differently _ . She looks down at her phone as Jojo texts her, asking how she was doing. “God, he’s taking forever.” Lil mutters. She checks her phone again and grimaces. “I’ve got the stuff in my garage I just gotta get the go-ahead… Why did you join me again?” Lil turns to Prov to see nerves flash across her face. “Prov, is this because of what Lil told me?”

“What’s Lil told you?”

“Girl, everything. Me and her, we don’t keep secrets. She might be off doing whatever with whoever, glad she finally dumped those asshole friends of hers’ mind you, but anyway, we always find the time to catch up. Usually at Blue Bay! To be honest, we should probably catch up more often, I dunno why we don’t-“

“What has she told you?” Prov repeats.

“Well I already knew the whole ‘you and Mephi problem, but like I also found out about the whole ‘you are speaking again’ and the ‘he’s in a band with your friends from high school’ thing and, oh, also the ‘he’s a recently ex-homeless dude with recently ex-alchohol issues’-“

“Lil, this isn’t some mindless gossip, this is a person we’re talking about.”

“Yeah, but thinking about said person and your history with said person, why do you still care so much?”

Prov remained silent and glared at her. Lil rolled her eyes and looked away dramatically while sipping her iced tea. Prov looks at her in disbelief and looks away. 

“Ey, Owen! Finally, dude. C’mon, lemme know so I can leave and get everything set up already!” Lil shouts and Prov turns to see who is apparently Owen, a strong looking man with black hair and slightly tanned skin. She swore she had seen him around before, and living in the area, and somtimes visiting Blue Bay Club, she bet she probably. Owen nodded at Lil, making her yip with excitement and she waves to them both before running off. Prov and Owen stare after her, before Prov hears him say “she’s gonna knock someone over one day.”

“You say that as though she never has already.” Provs interjects, making Owen laugh.   
He takes a seat beside Prov, and she looks him up and down. A few tattoos, a few piercings. Noticably less than Mephi. He sported similar fashion to Mephi too. It was clear where they met. Maybe that explained how well they got along.   
“You’ve been starin’ a while, Prov. Didn’t realise I looked that good.” Owen smirks and Prov looks away suddenly. “Sorry, I’ve just got… a lot of thoughts.” She admits.   
“It’s okay. Mephi’s a handful sometimes, and I have no doubt you’re wondering how I handle it all.” Owen shrugs. Prov is slightly taken aback by how forward Owen is.  _ Jeez, no wonder Mephi’s wrapped right around his finger. _ _   
_ “I’m sorry, what?” Owen says, staring at her incredulously. She looks at him and flushes red.  _ Oh shit I said that out loud- _ _   
_ “Sorry, nothing, it’s nothing, honestly…” Prov trails off and looks aside.    
Owen smirks. “It’s no big deal, I can see how you’d think that.” He sits back and looks at her. “You seem… strong.”   
Prov takes a moment to assess his statement, then also sits back. “You too. Not as much as me though.” She sits up and takes her planner out of her back, looking to her watch.   
“You seem to plan a lot.”   
“It’s how I work.”   
“It’s how I worked too, for a long time. But the stress got to me. Sometimes, you just gotta…  _ let go _ .”    
Prov looks to him. “Maybe I will one day, but I can’t right now, I’ve got too much going on to let it all go.”   
“Hey, I don’t mean losing the rotas, I just mean for now, having something you can escape to. When everything gets too tough for Mephi, I’m his escape. I’m his fun.” He winks at her, and she feels herself flushing. “Hey, don’t act like that, we’ve both been with the same guy. I have no doubt what you guys have done.” He nudges her, and she raises her eyebrows at her, and she feels herself blush heavily. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”   
“Sure.” He says simply, then pulls a notepad out of his pocket and checks his phone. Prov notices a small ‘to-do’ list in his hand. ‘Mephi’ is at the bottom. She smirks and adds ‘not mephi’ to the bottom of hers, making sure Owen watches. Owen snorts and they laugh together. “Honey, you  _ do  _ have a sense of humor, just like he said.”   
Prov smiles. “Well you said it first, sometimes you just gotta  _ let go _ of the serious stuff for a while. I’ll be at Blue Bay again for the concert. I booked time off for it.”   
“Oh, I’m glad! I’d like to see what you’re like in a more  _ intense  _ environment. To be honest, it really peaked my curiosity when i found out that you were his ex. I wonder how that came about.”   
“It’s… a long story, but to be honest, the short story is that despite our differences, I loved him for his charm, he was funny, made me laugh all the time… and he always saw the best in everyone else. Asides from himself…” Prov trails off and looks down. “To be honest, you and Mephi seem really alike, no wonder you’re together-”   
“Now, now, Prov, almost sounds like you’re falling for me.” Owen whispers and Prov laughs at him. “Yeah, right. Listen, what I mean… is that you guys seem to be really good for one another. And I really appreciate you helping him out. To be honest, I came here wanting to interrogate you on how you made it work, helping him out. When I tried, well.. it backfired. Badly.”   
“Yeah, I’ve heard about… all of that…” He trails off and Prov looks slightly uncomfortable. “You know Mephi feels super bad about everything that happened, right? Like, the other day, he was in hysterics just for seeing you on the bus.”   
She recalls their conversation, and feels slightly taken aback. “Really? But… he seemed  _ fine  _ on the bus.”   
“He didn’t want to cause any commotion on the bus. It was… after he was off the bus.”   
Remembering Mephi not looking back to the bus, it all clicks into place slightly for her, and she feels a sense of guilt looming in. “Oh, Owen… I really feel bad then. All I wanna do now is move on. Back then I really tried my best but now I realise it just didn’t click between us two for that, we just had different ways of dealing with things. I imposed too much, I signed him up for therapy against his permission, and then his parents found out and that’s when the whole… the whole…  _ him leaving _ … happened. He assured me that there were other things going on that caused him to leave, but… I couldn’t help but feel bad.”   
“Honestly, it sounds like you both just need some more time talking shit out.”   
“Yeah… I agree.”   
“Well, my place is open for you whenever you wanna come visit, honestly. We could chill, have some wine, chat…”   
“Sounds great.” Prov feels a sense of hope in her chest and she smiles at him. “I’d really like to get to know you and smooth things over with Mephi.”   
“That’s good, it’d be like therapy!”   
“Yeah, therapy…”   
“By the way, though, I have him signed up for therapy now. He’s going to meetings too.”   
Prov stares, incredulous. “H-how?”   
“Well, Mephi’s a complicated creature, it took me a little while to figure out the best course of action, but I finally just realised, like other stress, I need to…  __ let go … a bit. I let him come to the conclusion that he needed it, then I handled all the signing up for him, making sure of course that I filled things in according to what he wanted…”   
“You’re smart.” Prov raised an eyebrow.   
“You are too, hun. Mephi was a little more volatile back then. Don’t sweat it.”

Prov smiles at him. “Thanks Owen, you’re sweet.”   
“You too.”   
Her watch beeps at the same time as Owen’s phone and they look to one another with a small laugh. They slowly get up, then Prov reaches out a hand tentatively. Owen takes a moment to assess, before he smiles and takes her hand and shakes it. They say their goodbyes and they both turn in opposite directions and they walk away, smiling lightly to themselves.

 

**********************   
  
“Oh my goodness, tonight’s the night.” Jon said, nervous. He starts to pace, his usual response to anxiety. Sock smiles lightly, and takes his arm, gently holding it. “Don’t worry, man. It’ll be okay!”   
Jon stops for a second, looking at him, then he sighs and smiles at Sock. “Yeah.” They hug, the moment sweet and lasted what felt like forever, before pulling apart and entering the building after their short break for fresh air. They pass through the corridor leading to backstage and they spot Prov standing next to Lil at the merch stand.   
“Eyyy there’s the rockstars!” Lil whoops at them, and Sock smirks and hugs Lil and Prov. Jon smiles to them.    
“I am. So. Excited.” Sock says happily, and him and Lil chat amongst themselves excitedly, as Lil shows them some merch she was working on. Prov approaches Jon a little closer.    
“So how’s the band leader doing? Still nervous as all hell?”   
“You betcha.” Jon says and Prov chuckles. She looks towards backstage. “How’s Mephi doing? I must admit, I’m worried for tonight. Just in case there’s a repeat of Open mic night.”   
“Honestly, Prov, you don’t need to worry about that. Mephi has come back with a drive I’ve never seen before in him. And, granted, I may not have known him for very long, but the drive he has? To be honest, kinda reminds me of you!”   
Prov grins. “That’s great! And yes, that’s how we got together in the first place, all those years ago.” She looks down at the ground, memories making her smile.   
“Prov, don’t get too attached now, he has a boyfriend.” Jon jokes, but Prov looks up in slight shock at him before laughing and dismissing him. “Don’t be silly! It’s another era for Mephi and Prov now! A lot more rocking one, it seems. Never thought I’d find myself here so many times in the space of a few months.”   
Jon smirks and pats her shoulder. “Hey, who knows, maybe you’re cut out to be in a band?”   
Prov smirks and says her goodbyes to them all before heading to the audience to watch Mephi was already there, and pats Sock and Jon on the back. “Are you guys okay? You know it’ll be fine, right?”    
Jon looks at him with a small smile. “Yeah. I’m fine. But, uh… Jojo doesn’t look very okay.”   
Jojo stood behind them, gritting her teeth with anxiety. The turns and look at her. “of all the people to get anxious…” Sock says. Jojo looks away and scoffs. “I’m allowed to get anxious.”   
“Is this about your friend?” Mephi kneels down slightly so that he can look at her. Jojo nods quietly. “I just… really want her to be here.”   
“Well, she is!” Mephi says and his face lights up when she looks at him in surprise. “What?” She asks, in disbelief, a smile forming on her face as he explained that Owen saw her in the clothes Jojo had bought her, the skirt, tights and jacket. She smiles and jumps into action. “I’m ready to go when you are, guys!”   
“Well, good, because we’re on!” Jon says, and he begins to breathe a little heavier. Sock takes his hand, and Jon and Sock share a moment to stare at each other, as though assuring one another, before walking forward together onto the stage. They wave and the crowd whoops and cheers for them, screaming when Jojo and Mephi run on together and start thrashing around, making Sock laugh loudly.   
“ _ Are you guys ready to rock?! _ ” Jojo asks loudly and immediately she spots Sel near the front, cheering enthusiastically. She also spots Michael and all of her old friends, but chooses to ignore them, hyping up the crowd.   
The band plays this setlist as normal, and it starts off great, Sock singing his heart out, Mephi banging away on the drums with expertise, Jon casually making basslines dance-worthy and Jojo rocking up and hyping up the crowd. One of the songs being a particular favourite of Sock’s right now, they prepare to play ‘Misery Business’ by Paramore.   
Sock stepped forward and took the mic as the instruments started up in a heavy rock beat that everyone recognised, as they started to cheer loudly, everyone wondered how Sock would sing this, in the original key..  He got through the first two verses, his heart beating in his chest. He needed to up the game, the music taking him as he felt like he left his stage, no longer grounded, focused on the song, he began to belt at the chorus, the crowd screaming. Jon could see shocked faces around the audience as Sock effortless passed over high notes with power and precision, and he couldn’t help but grow a huge grin on his face as he got even more into the song.   
  
**_I'm in the business of misery, let's take it from the top_ **

**_She's got a body like an hourglass that's ticking like a clock_ **

**_It's a matter of time before we all run out_ **

**_When I thought he was mine, she caught him by the mouth_ **

**_  
_ ** **_I waited eight long months_ **

**_She finally set him free_ **

**_I told him I couldn't lie, he was the only one for me_ **

**_Two weeks and we had caught on fire_ **

**_She's got it out for me, but I wear the biggest smile_ **

**_  
_ ** Sock grips the mic and begins to belt the chorus, making the audience cheer. **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** ****_Whoa, well I never meant to brag_

**_But I've gotten what I wanted now_ **

**_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_ **

**_To steal it all away from you now_ **

**_But God does it feel so good_ **

**_'Cause I got him where I want him now_ **

**_And if you could then you know you would_ **

**_'Cause God it just feels so_ **

**_It just feels so good_ **

**_  
_ ** The next two verses a breeze, Sock took the mic from the stand and his stage presence started to show, looking audience members dead in the eye as he sung about being on top, stealing what was his.   
  
**_Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change_ ** **_,_ ** _ Sock crosses over to Jojo, and strokes her guitar as she plays it, getting down on his knees slightly. Jon begins to feel overwhelmed. _ **_  
_ ** **_Once a whore, you're nothing more, I'm sorry that'll never change_ ** ****_,_ _ Sock jumps up and pushes her away slightly, Jojo gasping and smiling wildly at his sass. _

**_And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged_ **

**_I'm sorry honey, I passed out, now look this way_ ** **_  
_ ** _   
_ Sock explored the stage, walking slowly yet confidently as he sung the next verse. **__  
  
**

**_Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you_ **

**_Looking as innocent as possible to get to who_ **

**_They want and what they like, it's easy if you do it right_ ** **,** Sock crosses over to Jon, ruffling his hair, electricity sparking between them as he gives Jon a little wink. He pushes away as he sings loudly:

**_Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!_ **

**_  
_ ** He points out to the audience as they cheer loudly, belting out the song to the best of his ability, seeming to pass over the high notes with considerable ease. **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** ****_Whoa, well I never meant to brag_

**_But I've gotten what I wanted now_ **

**_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_ **

**_To steal it all away from you now_ **

**_But God does it feel so good_ **

**_'Cause I got him where I want him now_ **

**_And if you could then you know you would_ ** **_,_ ** Sock runs over to the drum kit and takes in a big breath, stepping onto Mephi’s drum kit.

**_'Cause God it just feels so_ ** **_,_ ** Sock sings the prolonged note as he stands on top of the bass drum of Mephi’s drum kit, Jon looks over to him in awe as a single light illuminates him as he reaches up. He sang effortlessly, powerfully, and caused a hush of shock over the crowd as the instruments quietened down.

**_It just feels so... good…_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** He elegantly steps down from the kit, walking over to Jon as he sung the next verse, enveloped by the music and a new sense of confidence on stage, he nears ever closer to Jon, who couldn’t help but stare as his heart beat faster. Watching Sock perform with him, everything just felt right.

**_  
_ ** **_I watched his wildest dreams come true_ **

**_Not one of them involving you_ **

**_Just watch my wildest dreams come true_ **

**_Not one of them involving-_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Suddenly as Jojo’s guitar solo starts up, Sock grabs Jon and kisses him passionately, making the audience whoop and scream. Jon, caught up in the performance, kisses him back, letting Sock rummage through his hair roughly before pulling back, pushing him away and rocking out with Jojo. Jon was left in a small state of shock, until he realised he still had basslines to play. He quickly snapped out of it and kept playing.

**_  
_ ** **_Whoa, well I never meant to brag_ ** **_,_ ** with nothing but the drums playing, he points at Mephi as he hits the drums energetically.

**_But I got him where I want him now_ ** **_,_ ** Sock and Jojo start running on the spot energetically through this line as Sock belts powerfully and Mephi grits his teeth and hits the drums at a fast pace, slightly standing from his seat for a moment from exertion,  sweat running through his already damp hair as his shirt became more disheveled.   
Sock. jumps away and dances with the audience as he continues the chorus.

**_Whoa, well I never meant to brag_ **

**_But I've gotten what I wanted now_ **

**_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_ **

**_To steal it all away from you now_ **

**_But God does it feel so good_ **

**_'Cause I got him where I want him now_ **

**_And if you could then you know you would_ **

**_'Cause God it just feels so_ **

**_It just feels so good_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** The song finished on a high note as Sock stood centre stage, the crowd cheering loudly.    
Sock jumps in excitement, then turns to Jon, who looks at him with awe. Sock looks at him, worried he overstepped a boundary, but then his nerves settle when he sees Jon begin to smile widely at him. “That was...awesome.” Jon mouths to him through the crowds.   
They finish their standard setlist and go onto the last ten minutes where they had multiple options, with two songs worth of time left. They all look at each other, but then Jojo looks at Sel looking around nervously and she knew Sel was trying to hide from Michael. Her fists clench and she walks over to her band, who stood around the drum kit to figure out their next song.    
“Mephi, I know you wanted to do this song, I know you had your reasons to do it, but please, for someone going through it right now, let me take the mic, and you take guitar.” Jojo asks quietly. Jon and Sock look at her in slight surprise as they overhear and Mephi does too, but quickly his expression changes to a smile. “I understand completely. Please, take the mic. Sock!” Sock runs over and takes the sticks, looking to Jojo. “You sure about this?”   
“Yeah.” Jojo smiles and looks to the crowd, to Sel, and to Michael and his gang lurking in the back. “I have plans for this.”   
Jojo takes the mic as Sock and Mephi exchange places, Mephi picking up the guitar and playing a powerful, distorted chord, making the crowd cheer excitedly.   
Sock counts them in, the band starting up, the song quickly recognised by the crowd. Sel’s eyes start to sparkle in glee, and Michael scowls. Jojo closes her eyes, takes a breath and starts to sing a surprisingly rugged voice, matching her rocking style and exterior. She points to the crowd, more towards Michael than anyone else.   
  
**_(Author’s Note:_ ** [ **_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faG5mmkDbyc &index=11&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faG5mmkDbyc&index=11&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8) **_)_ **   
  
****_They're gonna clean up your looks_

**_With all the lies in the books_ **

**_To make a citizen out of you_ **

**_Because they sleep with a gun_ **

**_And keep an eye on you, son_ **

**_So they can watch all the things you do_ **

 

**_Because the drugs never work_ **

**_They're gonna give you a smirk_ **

**_'Cause they got methods of keeping you clean_ **

**_They're gonna rip up your heads,_ **

**_Your aspirations to shreds_ **

**_Another cog in the murder machine_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Jojo’s voice gains in power, yet still rough and scrapey, the crowd seeming to enjoy it. She knew she wasn’t the best singer around, but she’ll certainly try her best to make a show of it, and make it a huge middle finger to all the bullshit high school put her and others through.

 

**_They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me_ **

**_They could care less as long as someone'll bleed_ **

**_So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose_ **

**_Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** While singing the next verse, she stares at Michael then looks to Sel, as though directing her words at her, then bends down and offers her a hand. Sel takes a moment, biting her lip, then she suddenly takes her hand and Jojo pulls her strongly onto the stage, throwing her Sock’s backup mic. 

**_  
_ ** **_The boys and girls in the clique_ **

**_The awful names that they stick_ **

**_You're never gonna fit in much, kid_ **

**_But if you're troubled and hurt_ **

**_What you got under your shirt_ **

**_Will make them pay for the things that they did_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Sel grabs the and starts to sing along for the chorus, and, without realising Jojo wasn’t singing along, she shocks the crowd with a perfect, amazingly strong voice. It quietens the crowd a bit and nothing but the drums are left as she sings along.

 

**_They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me_ **

**_They could care less as long as someone'll bleed_ **

**_So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose_ **

**_Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me_ **

 

**_Ohhh yeah!_ ** , Sel screams, inciting the crowd to sing along with her now.

 

**_They said all teenagers scare the living shit out of me_ **

**_They could care less as long as someone'll bleed_ **

**_So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose_ **

**_Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me_ **

 

**_All together now!_ ** , Jojo yells, hyping up the crowd. The guitar explodes into a solo, Mephi headbanging and jumping onto speakers. Sel laughs at him, at how exciting this was, and watches curiously as a mosh pit starts up near Michael and his friends, jostling them around dangerously. Michael seems to fume, pushing out of the crowd with a fall. Someone trips on him and spills their drink on him, making him hiss out and hold the scratches on his face. He looks up to the stage again as Melissa helps him up, and, together, Jojo and Sel sing the final chorus powerfully.

 

**_Teenagers scare the living shit out of me_ **

**_They could care less as long as someone'll bleed_ **

**_So darken your clothes or strike a violent pose_ **

**_Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me!_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** The crowd uproars into heavy cheers as they whoop and cheer onstage and Sel hugs Jojo tightly. “Thank you.” Sel says and Jojo feels tears in her eyes, but blinks them away.   
“No… Thank  _ you.  _ Talk later.” Jojo says and Sel nods and works on getting back off the stage. As she does, Jojo spots Michael working his way through the crowd and Jojo tenses up, but Mephi comes to the front of the stage and places a hand over Jojo’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, hun. Sel’s got new friends now.”   
A group of burly men, the Club’s half family residents/half security guards walk along towards Michael and approach him and his friends, and Michael goes to shout at them until one particularly large man walks up to him and frowns. He quickly closes his mouth, and with a scowl, he is escorted out.    
“As for school, we’ll sort that out later.” Mephi says, and Jojo turns and hugs him. “Aww, you’re welcome.” Mephi smiles and hugs her tightly.   
Jon approaches him. “Last song.” He passes Mephi the mic and Jojo comes away from him with a smile. “It’s all yours. ‘Saturday Night’.”   
Mephi’s face drops with shock. “Are you… are you for real?!” Mephi grins.   
Sock and Jojo hear what he says clearly and look to each other and begin to smile, getting ready for the next song excitedly. Jojo can’t contain her smile, her favourite song about to be made even more fun in performance.   
Mephi jumps up and hands Sock the drum sticks, and begins to walk to the stand before pausing and turning back, muttering a low “you sure?” to them. They chuckle in return and Jon gestures to Mephi to take the mic. “Go on, man. You’ve earned it.”    
Mephi turns back and begins walking again, grinning as he notices Owen in the crowd, who clasps his hands to his mouth in excitement. Mephi takes the mic.   
“You fuckers ready?!” Mephi yells out to the enthralled crowd, who cheers and raves.   
Prov watches from the bar at the side of the stage, smirking at his silly antics.   
“I’m not sure if all of ya’ll know this song, but trust me when I say you’ll be singing along by the end of it! Here’s… ‘Saturday Night’” Some people from the crowd enthusiastically scream through the cheering crowd. Mephi nods to his band, and Sock counts them in, the music exploding from the speakers as Mephi immediately starts dancing along.   
His time comes to sing, and he takes is excitedly, taking the mic stand and putting the mic close to his lips.   
  
**_(Author’s Note:_ ** [ **_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRdu-vB2Tkg &index=10&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8_ ** ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRdu-vB2Tkg&index=10&list=PLVk8J6Inulf9biYcWPwGtFq-9VdJle1u8) **_)_ **   
  


**_Been traveling in packs that I can't carry anymore_ **

**_Been waiting for somebody else to carry me_ **

**_There's nothing else there for me at my door_ **

**_All the people I know aren't who they used to be_ **

**_And if I tried to change my life one more day_ **

**_There would be nobody else to save_ **

**_And I can't change into a person I don't wanna be so_ **

**_Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Mephi jumps up and starts dancing while holding the stand, the crowd cheering loudly.

 

**_I pray for the wicked on the weekend_ **

**_Mama, can I get another amen?_ ** **_  
_ **   
Jon and Jojo bring up the backing vocals, playing along and nodding their head to the music.   
  


**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ **

**_Swear to God I ain't ever gonna repent_ **

**_Mama, can I get another amen?_ **

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** A pause comes, and Mephi calms and brings his hands together in fake prayer as he sings the next part.

 

**_And every morning when I wake up_ **

**_I wanna be who I couldn't say I'd ever been_ **

**_But it's so much more than I ever was_ **

**_If every night I go to sleep knowing_ **

**_That I gave everything that I, I had to give_ **

**_Then it's all I could have asked for_ **

**_I've been standing up beside everything I've ever said but_ **

**_Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** He jumps up again, this time the crowd jumping with him, grabbing the mic off the stand with a flourish, the exhilaration tight in the air.

 

**_I pray for the wicked on the weekend_ **

**_Mama, can I get another amen?_ **

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ **

**_Swear to God I ain't ever gonna repent_ **

**_Mama, can I get another amen?_ **

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Mephi jumps off of the stage as he sings, some people in the crowd screaming with excitement,  He looks over to Prov and grins slightly, twirling her around with his free hand before moving on, walking casually around the venue where there was space.

**_If I had one more day to wish_ **

**_If I had one more day_ **

**_To be better than I could have ever been.._**   
He took Owen’s hand and quickly kissed it as he passed,  winking at some ladies who looked at each other excitedly as he passed them also. He takes a quick look at Prov and she smiles at him, making him smile as he sung, winking at her too. Her eyes widen slightly and she feels herself blush a little, but she clears her throat slightly before looking back. He had turned away, heading back towards the stage. She looks away from him, confused about what her mind was telling her.

**_If I had one more day to wish_ **

**_If I had one more day_ **   
  
He jumps back up onto stage and puts the mic in the stand just in time to sing the next bit.   
  


**_I could be better but baby..._ **

**_Oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Sock starts nodding his head to the music enthusiastically while the rest of the band whoop and dance around the stage. Their time to party was now, while Mephi took the stage, and they took the opportunity with both hands.

 

**_I pray for the wicked on the weekend_ **

**_Mama, can I get another amen?_ **

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ **

**_Swear to God I ain't ever gonna repent_ **

**_Mama, can I get another amen?_ ** **_  
_ ** Jon and Jojo sing the next bit, anxiety catching their throats, Prov looking expectantly at the stage, all of them wondering how Mephi was going to handle singing the next part.

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ ** **_  
_ ** Mephi takes the mic back off of the stand, holding it close to him, building up power and pitch.

**_It's Saturday, Saturday, it's Saturday!_ ** **_  
_ ** Mephi sings the segment perfectly, belting out high notes.

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah_ **

**_Swear to God, swear to God, swear to God_ ** **_  
_ ** He clutches his chest as he sings, kneeling down slightly as he sung the last line with earnest before jumping off the stage again while Jon and Jojo finished the song with their backup singing.

**_Oh oh, it's Saturday night, yeah!_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** The crowd screams and whoops and cheers, almost deafening. And Sock jumps up and throws his sticks at the crowd, Mephi striping off his shirt and chucking it into the crowd at Owen before winking and pointing at him. Owen smirks confidently at him and starts to walk backstage. Jon suddenly has a burst of adrenaline and grabs the mic. “We’ve been Hell’s Angels  _ goodnight!! _ ” He shouts and the rest of the band looks at him and whoop and cheer with him, practically bouncing off the stage. They all begin to talk rapidly about how amazing their set was and Sock feels his energy peaking, excitement filling his body, and suddenly, he’s pulled to his left slightly and Jon was there, grabbing the back of Sock’s head and kissing him. Sock’s eyes widen, but quickly close gently as he accepts Jon’s full embrace, deepening their kiss. Jon pulls back and stares in his eyes. “This may be the energy boost from the performance giving me the kick up the backside I need but this is what I want,  _ all of this _ . I want to be in a band, I want to rock out and perform, and I want to do it… with my badass best friend by my side. With… maybe if you don’t mind me asking so forward n’ all…” Jon looks away, blushing still, but looks back, a determination in his eyes and yet he still stumbles over his words. “In a way, maybe, possibly, we could try… rocking out together… as people who date? If… if you wanna date? I mean you don’t need to go out or anything-”   
“Of course.” Sock says and Jon cuts himself off and stares at Sock. “Wait, for real?”   
“Yes, Jon. This is what I want too. If that’s something you want to maybe try.”   
“...Yeah, Sock, I really would…”   
“Best buds?” Sock holds out his hand to Jon once they pulled apart. Jon smirked at Sock’s silliness and took his hand into a hug.   
“Best buds.” Their hug turns to a more gentle, loving hug.

A silence passes and suddenly Mephi speaks up. “Called it.”   
Jon and Sock pull apart and blush when they look at one another, but then Sock’s hand reaches for Jon’s, and Jon takes it, holding it gently as the both smile at their band members. “Whoops?” Sock simply says and shrugs at them.   
(“Welp I’m surrounded by gays-” Jojo says but then remembers she thinks Lil and Sel are hot, then corrects herself mentally with an “oof.”)   
They leave immediate backstage into the cold night air of the backstage exit just as Owen walks up to it, and he suddenly takes Mephi into his arms and kisses him passionately. “You, my love, are one sexy guy.” Owen mutters and Mephi smirks, hugging into him gently. “Thank you for being here for me. I love you.”   
Owen’s eyes widen slightly, but then he smiles widely and lets Mephi bury his face into his shoulder. “I...I love you too.”   
Jojo looks to them both and then spots Sel rounding the corner, and they run to each other and hug. “Sel, I- I am  _ so _ sorry, I-”   
“Look, there’s time later for all this. For now, I want to enjoy a concert.” Her expression unwaveringly serious, Sel responds. Despite the fun, Jojo could tell Sel was still recovering from the incident.   
“Did you force yourself to come here? You didn’t need to-”   
“No. I needed to be here. After, after what you gave to me, it’s the least I could do. Also, I wanted to be there for you. I just… I do need to talk stuff out, but honestly, I’d prefer another day.” Sel looks down. Jojo just smiles and holds out her hand to Sel. Sel smiles smally and shakes it. Sel then turns to Mephi and promptly thanks him for their help with Michael and her bullies.   
“No need to worry about them. Everyone here? Was victims of assholes like them. And if that’s the case, that means we’ve came out in top and so much cooler.” Mephi says.   
“Very much cooler.” Owen agreed.   
Sel laughs and just as she opens her mouth to speak, Derek jumps out of the stage exit excitedly with a man with sunglasses on.   
“Guys, Mr. Landon here would like to speak with you.” Derek’s voice wavers with anxiety.   
Mr. Landon takes his time to look at them all, then slowly takes his glasses off and gently places them in his suit pocket. His gray hair brushed into a perfect style, his moustache twitching as he appeared to think, his piercing blue eyes looking among them.   
“I have a proposition for you guys.” His deep voice drawled out, sending a chill into the air.   
  
The End?


End file.
